A Tale of Denial
by AmaranteX
Summary: Modern day marauder era. AU. Slight James/OC, Remus/OC, Lily/James.  "Aren't you going to make some kind of joke about me being in denial?"  "Aren't you going to make some kind of joke about me being serious?" I might just be able to get along with him.
1. Make the pain go away

"Gryffindor", the sorting hat called out, making the entire Great Hall fall into a stunned silence. Sirius' face paled considerably as the sorting hat sealed his fate.

'Mother and father are going to murder me', was the first thing he thought as he scrambled down from the stool and down to the table with the people his family had taught him to hate. The mud bloods and the blood traitors. And he was now one of them. He sat down at the staring Gryffindor table as far away from people as he could get. He knew it wasn't a mistake, because the sorting hat never made that kind of mistakes, but that one word the hat had spoken to him, echoed in his mind.

He didn't notice that the next name was being called. He was far too distracted to pay any attention to other people, now that he was in such distress. Little did he know that the next name that was about to be called would impact his world in unimaginable ways.

* * *

><p>"Evans". My name. Someone was calling out to me. But who? The darkness surrounded me, blocking my green eyes from gazing at what lay ahead. Who did that voice belong to? Why was it calling out to me, and why was I blinded? Impatient as always and not being able to stand it any longer, I took a deep breath filling my lungs with air and called out:<p>

"What do you want?"

The silence was unbearable. I wanted to move, but I was afraid of who or what I might bump into. So because I could do nothing else, I waited.

And then I saw it. The face of an angel. Or in this case, it looked more like a fallen angel. His dark, shaggy hair falling down in his deep, mischievous eyes, as he whipped it out of his face with his right hand. He looked like he was about 11 years old, but he radiated with confidence, making it quite obvious just how popular he would be with the girls in just a few years. Just looking at him was indescribable.

But something shook me out of my daze. I could hear something. A light, beeping sound steadily increasing in loudness. I lost footing in the pitch black room and the angel got smaller and smaller the further away I got.

'No, not yet!', I thought as I fell through the darkness, reaching my arm out to him as he disappeared back into the darkness.

All sorts of thoughts ran through my mind as I opened my eyes and I was in a white room. 'Where am I?' I thought as I lifted my pale hand to my head, only to find a needle deeply stuck into my hand. My normally pale skin turned white as a sheet.

"You have got to be kidding me", I mumbled grimacing at the look of the needle stuck in my skin. I pulled myself into a sitting position, trying not to lean on my right hand as I figured it would hurt if I moved the needle too much around.

A light beep could be heard in the background, and I realized what had awoken me from my deep sleep**: **an electrocardiogram. Jesus Christ, I didn't even realize I knew the word for that thing.

My breathing quickened and my heart started pounding stronger, as I could feel I was getting nervous. The electrocardiogram went along and the sound came faster and faster. I could hear commotion out on what I assumed must be the hallway, until what I then again assumed must be a nurse burst through the door and rushed over to me.

She gave me a small smile after checking I was okay and then turned around yelling "Doctor Brown! Doctor, she's awake!" out of the door. She ran out of the room as fast as she had entered it and was out of my sight in a matter of seconds.

'What does she mean, 'she's awake'? Of course I am awake, why wouldn't I be?', I thought, narrowing my eyes.

I thought back, trying to remember what could possibly have happened. Nothing came up. I searched my brain, straining myself to try and remember. Other than a growing headache, nothing. Nothing came up.

"Ugh", I muttered and put my needle-free hand up to my forehead, while closing my eyes. I desperately needed some painkillers.

Again, the door burst open, the noise going straight to my head and making the blooming headache erupt into something resembling a case of migraine. I groaned, half in annoyance, half in pain. This was going to be a long day.

"Good day, I am Doctor Brown, how are you feeling?" a man said. I removed my hand from my face and carefully opened my eyes, looking at the tall man beside me. I immediately felt I could trust the man. He had friendly brown eyes twinkling in the small amount of sun that slid through the crack of the curtains covering the rather large windows on my left side. His smile showed a pair of dimples and a rather white and straight set of teeth, and his thinning brown hair was combed back. His attitude practically radiated 'I am trustworthy!'.

I opened my mouth, feeling dry as a desert, and surprisingly managed to croak out:

"Could I have some water, please?" before starting to cough from the exhaustion of my throat. I must not have used it for a while. The question was how long that 'while' was.

"Why, yes of course Miss Denial", he said, smiling politely at me, before sending the very energetic nurse that had earlier noted him of my awakening, out to get me a glass of water. "Now, I need you to answer a few questions for me, Miss Den-", he started.

"Evans. Call me Evans", I interrupted him. I hate my last name, it sounds weird, and people always make puns out of my name. 'In denial, are we?' people always say, and after a while it stops being funny. It's not even pronounced that way, and now it is just annoying. I try to avoid using my surname, seeing no reason to make it easier for people to make fun of me than it already is. Strange things happen when I am around, therefore I must be strange, is what people always seem to conclude.

Not that my first name is that much better. People always assume I am of the opposite sex. But it's better than being called Denial. Anything is better than Denial.

"Okay, then, Miss Evans, how are you feeling?" he asked pleasantly.

I was just about to croak a reply, when the nurse re-entered the room, now with a glass of water in her hand. A strained smile was set on her lips as she placed down the water on the bedside table next to me. But the smile didn't reach her eyes. She looked like she had been working all night.

"Thank you", I croaked out to her and greedily gulped down the water, postponing the question asked by Doctor Brown. I had soon finished the glass of water but the thirst was still there.

"Could I have some more, please?" I asked the exhausted nurse timidly as she had just turned her back to me, ready to leave. She stopped and sighed before turning back and taking my glass before yet again strode out of the door to get me some more water.

"Long shift", Doctor Brown apologized and repeated the question for the third time.

"So, Miss Evans, are you now ready to tell me how you are feeling?"

I coughed to test my voice, making my head pound.

"My head hurts", I mumbled looking down on my sore hand. He most likely already knew that my hand hurt, seeing as it was all blue, so there was no point in telling him that. They must have been busy when they stuck in the needle, because they obviously hadn't hit the vein properly the first time.

Doctor Brown nodded looking like he was deep in thought. He retrieved a small flashlight from the front pocket of his shirt and clicked it on and off to check it was working.

"I need you to check how your eyes react on light", he told me reassuringly. "Just keep your eyes open, and look straight forward", he finished putting the small flashlight on level with my eyes. He clicked it on, and the second the light hit my eyes, an odd thing happened. A sharp light flashed before my eyes and the sound of a loud crash echoed in my mind. I gasped and immediately closed my eyes and turned my head away from the source of light.

At that moment, the door was practically kicked open, and I opened my eyes in shock and looked to the right to the door where a woman I recognized as my mother stood, trying to catch her breath. Had she been running to get here? She noticed me looking at her andimmediately got herself together, reaching her arms out towards me and running to my bed. As she reached me, she pulled me into a hug, crushing my blue and severely hurt hand, making me groan.

"Hi mum", I whispered, not being able to talk properly, because of my mother cutting off my air supply with her strong arms.

"Oh, darling, I was so worried, I almost thought you wouldn't wake up again, and I wouldn't be able to stand if I lost you too", she cried, soaking my white hospital gown with her salty tears, sobbing hysterically.

I broke out of her strong grasp with difficulty and pulled her arms away from me.

"What do you mean, 'lose me too'?" I asked timidly, fearing the answer I might receive.

"Oh, Evy", she cried, yet again breaking down in tears. Fear and desperation started spreading through my body. I needed to know what had happened. Now.

"Mother", I called. She didn't react.

"Mother. Abigail. Get yourself together", I said, using her name instead of calling her mum. Hopefully she would feel my desperation and react on that. And she did.

She gasped and looked up at me, her eyes red and puffy.

"What happened?" I asked again slowly, not wanting to upset her even more. I couldn't stand seeing my mother cry. She rarely did it, but when she did, she had a damn good reason. And there was no way this was good news.

"Don't you remember sweetheart?" my mother asked looking at me, her eyes big and confused.

"Remember what?" I asked, starting to get quite agitated. Why couldn't she just come right out and tell me?

"Evans, we were in a car accident, and your brother.. Charles, he.. he.. died on impact", my mother finished, tears sliding down her cheeks at the thought of her dear child passing away.

I just stared at her. The shock was overwhelming. My brother was gone. Dead. I couldn't say anything, I couldn't properly think. My mind was blank.

"Sweety?" mum asked, sounding worried. I didn't hear her. I just looked straight ahead with a blank look in my eyes. I could feel the tears pressing to get out.

I broke down. The tears started leaking from my eyes and I sobbed hysterically. My brother. I loved him. He was everything to me. And he was gone.

"No, no, no, NO!" I screamed as I covered my eyes with my hands and started shaking my head. Why wouldn't this go away? This couldn't be real. Why wasn't this a bad dream?

"He can't be gone! He can't! I need him! He can't be gone!" I repeated through the sobs. My mother tried comforting me, but I couldn't be comforted. I had looked up to my brother, he had been my friend, my idol. I dare even go as far as to say that my 11-year old world revolved around him. And now he was gone. It couldn't be happening.

My breath was superficial, and I didn't get enough air to my lungs, making me start hyperventilating, while the tears ran down my cheeks in a never-ending stream.

A nurse came striding in the door immediately and injected me with something. I didn't care anymore. They could inject me with anything, as long as it would make the pain go away.

I could feel my breath slowing down and I found myself relaxing again. I fell back on the bed, my eyes feeling heavy. Whatever she had given me, it had made me relax, putting less of a strain on my body. Only the pain wouldn't go away.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's note<strong>

Well, this was the first chapter. I originally uploaded this to , but they decided to sell the site, or whatever. We still don't know if it's just some stupid April's Fool joke or not, but oh well. I still have my trusty ol' profile!

Okay, so this is a modern day Marauder story. I am aware that I have not finished the other stories, and I will probably end up deleting them because I have no plot for either of them. Well, I won't delete the one-shot, as it is already finished. I am planning on actually finishing this story and I have about 16,000 words written right now, so no worries on me abandoning this story. I'm pretty excited about it.

Well, leave me criticism and praise or whatever in a review and I will a very happy writer!

I hope you enjoyed it!


	2. A sudden revelation

"Bye mum", I mumbled as I stumbled out of the door, my trusty ol' duffle bag in my hand. I was on my way to handball training, which was rather odd considering the fact that it was in the middle of summer vacation, and normally, handball was the type of game to be played in the winter on an indoor court. But our lovely sadistic trainer, Mrs. Damon (or as we would call her, Mrs. Demon) had decided that she could not risk us getting fat during the summer vacation, so she had arranged for us to train on an outdoor court 3 times a week during the entire summer vacation.

Seeing as I had nothing else to do my entire summer vacation than to mope around and read the entire time, I had no problem with this arrangement. My mum was beyond ecstatic every time she got the chance to throw me out of the house, so needless to say, when Mrs. Damon had suggested this to the parents, everyone had agreed it was a good idea. Seems me and my teammates are all social rejects, as they, like me, had no plans for the holiday.

But as I said before, I had no problem with this arrangement, the sun was shining, the sky was blue and I got to work on getting my thighs smaller. Not that that would happen anytime soon, as they only seemed to get more and more muscular the more I played handball. But look at it from the bright side, more to love, I guess?

I dragged my 15-year old body lazily down the road, enjoying the rare time when I didn't have to run. Playing on an outside court was always tough. Sure, the court we played on outside wasn't as long as the one inside, but it was damn hard to dribble, which meant that we would have to be more alert in order to make the game run smoothly. Which probably also meant more running. And I just looooove running.

The training went pretty smoothly. Other than the regular scratches and the occasional pinching you would receive when breaking through the defense, nothing out of the ordinary happened.

I felt sore and tired as I yet again dragged myself down the road, only this time to get home. The sun was setting and it was absolutely stunning. Orange, pink and purple blended together in a beautiful symphony of colors, and I suddenly wished I had my camera with me. This was a rare sight. I sighed, and felt a sudden tug in my bag. Confused, I looked down. There was nothing, I hadn't dropped anything. Nothing was moving, but the wind brushing through my hair.

'Maybe I should take a look', I thought, and stopped abruptly, zipping up my duffle bag to check the contents. And there it was. My camera. The camera that was supposed to lie on my desk back home. I was 100 percent sure that I had put it there before I left. There was no explanation as to why the camera was in my bag.

"What the hell?" I mumbled.

"Well, this is creepy", I added, wide eyed weighing my camera in my hand. There had to be an explanation. Perhaps my mum had put it there, yes, that must be it. I had left my duffle bag on the dinner table for a while as I went to the bathroom, so she could easily have slipped it in there. But why would she have done that? And why hadn't I noticed it at the locker rooms?

I pushed the questions to the back at my mind where they would stay until I got home. 'I will get my answers then'**,** I decided and put the camera up to my eye, trying to capture the beauty of the sunset in a picture. I put my bag down and shot a few pictures until I was satisfied, and placed the camera back in my bag.

Then I pulled myself the rest of the way home.

"Evening mum", I said as I turned the knob of the front door and walked inside.

She came rushing out of the kitchen with a wild look in her eyes and her brown hair a complete mess.

"What are you doing home so early?" she shrieked.

"We finished early, why?" I asked, getting suspicious. I tried to look over her shoulder into the kitchen to see what was going on in there, but she took me roughly by the arm and dragged me upstairs to my room.

"I was wrapping up your birthday presents, Evans! You know not to come home early the day before your birthday!" she scolded me.

She had never told me that.

"I what? You have never said anything about that! How was I supposed to know?" I asked, feeling that the scolding had not been required.

'Couldn't she just have pushed me upstairs?' I thought, sighing when I realized that she couldn't. My mum had always been a dramatic one.

She didn't answer me. She just waltzed out of the door and slammed it behind her. Great, now I am on her bad side. She will probably start bugging me about Charles again. I hadn't gone to see him after his death. He had already been buried by the time I woke up from my coma. I was 2 months too late to say goodbye. So I didn't go. Charles died on my 11th birthday. And it had ruined every single birthday of mine so far. My family always went to put flowers on his grave, but I never did. Not on my birthday. I refused to. We had the same argument every single year, and they would end up making me go with them in the car. I could do that, but I couldn't get myself to go with them. I sat in the car, feeling sorry for myself. And this year was not going to be any different.

I rolled my eyes and dropped my bag on the floor. She was not in the mood to converse it seemed. I would ask her about the camera tomorrow. Yes, that seemed like a good plan.

'Hmm, the camera... Oh bloody hell', I thought as I realized that I had just dropped the bag containing my camera on my hard, wooden floor.

"Oh crap, I am bloody daft", I mumbled as I went on my knees in front of my bag to inspect the damage.

I zipped it open, and cursed as I saw that it had a small crack in the lens. This had cost me a fortune, and now it was broken because of my own damn stupidity.

I growled angrily as I got up, wanting desperately to kick something. I decided the wall would get a taste of my anger, and I kicked it as hard as I could. I had not calculated the fact that my foot would be the one getting a taste of my anger, and I swore loudly in pain as my foot hit the brick wall.

I just keep getting stupider.

I pushed the frustrated tears that wanted to come out back and sat down on the floor to wallow in my despair.

I looked down at the camera with the cracked lens. I felt my anger subsiding. Maybe it could be fixed?

"Why won't you just repair yourself?" I mumbled, taking the camera into my hands.

"Repair", I ordered it, while pointing my finger threateningly at it.

"..Like I actually expected that to work", I said, laughing at my own stupidity.

I wish there was some kind of magic trick that could fix it. I knew for a fact duct tape couldn't, and that was about the only thing I knew about fixing things. If duct tape couldn't handle it, I couldn't either.

"If there was to be a spell for it, it would be Latin, right?" I asked myself, getting a thoughtful look on my face. I scratched my imaginary beard and pushed myself off the ground, making my sore thighs scream in protest.

"Ouch", I mumbled as I went to my desk taking the camera with me. I turned on my computer and put the camera down beside me on the table.

I needed to know the word for 'repair' in Latin. Why? I had no idea.

I plopped myself down in my comfortable chair and waited for my laptop to start up. It didn't take long, and before I knew it, I was browsing google for the answer.

I typed in google, and went with google translate to cast some light over the situation for me. After having chosen English as the first language and Latin as the second, I quickly spelled out 'repair' in the text box.

Twenty results showed up. Two were nouns, but the rest were verbs. I ignored the two nouns and decided to read the rest out loud. I wanted to figure out what sounded best.

"Sarcio, exsercio, exsarcio, sano, resarcio, reconcinno, instauro, restituo, redintegro, renovo, reficio, reparo, expl-", I stopped. I had taken a quick look at my camera, and there it was. The lens good as new. There was no crack, hell, not even a single scratch on the lens!

This day was getting creepier by the minute! I was positive there had been a crack! Or else I sure as hell would not have kicked a brick wall in anger!

"I must be getting tired", I mumbled, still keeping my eyes on the camera.

I don't even know why I had gotten the strange urge to look it up, I mean, come on. What was I going to do with that word anyway? Write it in pretty cursive writing, frame it and hang it on my wall? I may be an odd person, but I'm not _that_ odd.

The worst part is that this is not the first time things like this have happened. Things that I cannot explain. I'm starting to think that there is something wrong with my head, because I see things. Strange things. Last year at King's Cross station I saw this red haired girl run straight into a wall. Now, normally that's not that odd in London, as there are many people and they are not all that observant (or clever, it seems), but this girl did not just run into the wall and fall. No, she just… disappeared. And nobody but me noticed.

I would have gone after her to see what the hell happened, but my mum dragged me with her because we had to pick up my younger sister, Nicola at platform 11.

I shook my head as if to rid myself of the memories, and got up.

'I hope mum's finished by now', I thought and opened my door wanting to get something to eat before going to bed. I walked out of the door and slammed it to give my mum some time to pack away whatever she was getting me and walked down the stairs loudly, in case she had missed the slam of my door.

She had heard it, because the only thing on the counter was nasty yellow and brown wrapping paper and a scissor. I gazed down at the wrapping paper with a slightly disgusted look and sat down at the barstool at the counter. Pushing the terrible wrapping paper aside and grabbing a red, shiny apple from the bowl in the middle of the counter. I dried it off on my shirt and took a rather big bite of the delicious fruit.

"Brown and yellow, mum?" I asked her, chewing on the piece of juicy fruit in my mouth.

"Don't chew and talk on the same time, honey, and yes. I will let you know, that it is a very modern color combination, young lady!" she scolded. That seems to be all she does nowadays.

"Yeah, in the 70's", I replied, producing a small snort. That wrapping paper was probably from the 70's. It would not surprise me if my mother had forgotten to buy wrapping paper, naturally assuming she had some at home. Then she would get home and figure out that we were all out of wrapping paper, and she would just wrap presents in whatever she could find. This seemed like one of those cases, and that 'wrapping paper' looked suspiciously like the old wallpaper in the master bedroom.

Not getting a reply, I shrugged it off and decided to get on with the task at hand. Getting some proper food. An apple is not enough to fight off the hunger that comes with playing sports.

"What are we having for dinner?" I asked my mum, seeing her light up at the mention of food. All she did was cook and nag, and nag about others' cooking.

"Well, I was in the mood for something Italian, so tonight we are having baked rigatoni with meatballs and pepper!" she said excitedly.

No wonder my trainer was worrying about the weight of the players on our team. Almost all of the mothers are in a cooking club. They meet up every time we are at practice.

"Sounds great, ma", I said while beaming. Perhaps I should read a bit. I had gotten to a very exciting part just when I had to go to practice, and it had been almost impossible to peal my eyes away from the enchanting words in the book. I hopped down from the barstool and strode out of the kitchen in search for my book. I had no idea where I put it.

"Don't run too far now! Dinner will be on the table soon!" my mum called to me from the kitchen. I pretended not to have heard her, so I wouldn't have to reply. Yeah, I know. I'm lazy.

I went into the living room but it wasn't on the coffee table, so I moved on into the hall but I hadn't left it there either. I went up to my room, and got frustrated as I couldn't seem to find it there either.

"Where the bloody hell is that damn book?" I mumbled as I trudged down the stairs to moan about it to my mother.

"Muuuum", I moaned. When I did that she would always drop everything she had in her hands to help me.

"What honey?" she called back. She knew what was coming.

"I can't find my bloody book, have you seen it?" I whined.

"No, sorry sweetheart. Have you checked the coffee table?" she asked.

"Yes!" I called, going back into the living room and throwing myself on the couch.

My mother entered the room just as my back hit something hard, making me swear loudly.

"Watch your language!" my mum scolded, looking absolutely appalled.

"...I think I found my book", I mumbled. I sat up and rubbed my back. The book was a hardback edition.

My mum sighed and went back to the kitchen where she belonged.

I got up, rubbed my back once again and put the book down on the coffee table where I would be able to find it again. I had suddenly lost all desire to read. Just then, mum called from the kitchen.

"Dinner!"

I went to the kitchen and sat down at the dining table. My dad and sister joined us and I started shoveling the steaming hot food on my plate.

It didn't take me long to shove the food down my throat, and before any awkward conversation about my birthday could start up, I excused myself from the table.

I took two steps at a time when I went up the stairs. The quicker I fell asleep, the quicker my birthday would come, and the quicker it would be over. Simple as that.

* * *

><p>"No", I stated clearly. I had been expecting and dreading this question all morning, and here it came.<p>

"Come on sweetheart, you need to go there someday", my mother said, trying to persuade me into going to Charles' grave. Nurh uh. No way. Not going to happen.

"Someday, yes. Just not today", I mumbled. I didn't need this right now. I didn't need this discussion ever for that matter. I would go when I was ready, and them pushing me would definitely not help that matter.

"Fine. We'll go then. You will get your presents when we get home, happy birthday Evans", my dad announced as he grabbed his car keys from the kitchen counter. Great. They would all be in a terrible mood when they got home.

"Thanks dad", I mumbled and went up to my room as the front door shut. I pulled off my PJ's as the engine of the car roared outside and I listened to the sounds coming from our car decrease as my family drove further and further away, abandoning me on my 15th birthday.

'Perhaps it **is** time', I thought as I pulled a black dress over my head. It was a loose, short and strapless summer dress that I had gotten myself a couple of days earlier as a birthday present for myself. I thought it was cute.

I sighed as I walked down the stairs yet again and started writing a note that I would be out of the house for a bit. By the time I would get to the graveyard they would be heading home anyways.

I slipped on some flats and walked out the door, locking up after myself and putting the key under the doormat, which is by the way probably the worst place ever to hide a key.

I strolled down the street, enjoying the slight breeze in my hair as the sun warmed my shoulders. Summer is my favorite time of the year.

I walked for about an hour before I got to the cemetery. I knew the way by heart because every time we had gone there, I had been in the car, and I had tried to focus on everything else but the awkward conversation my parents were trying to have with Nicola and me. It had worked like a charm, because I steered my way straight to the cemetery without any doubt that I was going the right way.

I stopped in front of High Gate Cemetery. This was the place he was buried. It looked like something out of a gothic movie, like a big overgrown garden with tombstones not quite standing vertical anymore. I couldn't see my parents' car anywhere, so I assumed they had taken off already. Well, I had been walking for an hour, so it was only natural that they had gone home by now. They never stayed long.

I walked through the gates and down a path to where I knew his grave would be. The cemetery was huge, but luckily the grave was not far from the entrance. I felt uncomfortable there. It was like something was pulling in my mind. Like some kind of repressed memory. It annoyed me. It was like when you want to say something, but then you forget what you wanted to say, and it annoys you because it's right on the tip of your tongue. It's so close you can taste it, but too far for your mind to reach out and embrace it.

The closer I got, the worse the feeling got. I ignored it and walked on. I needed this. And I was so close now that I wouldn't give up.

I stopped. This was the place. My brother's grave. His tombstone looked fairly new and hadn't sunken in one of the sides, much unlike all the other tombstones in the graveyard. My eyes gazed at the name written on the tomb. Charles Denial.

I felt a headache developing. Like the one I had gotten in the hospital right after waking up from my coma.

I gasped at the sudden pain, I grasped my head in my hands and closed my eyes to focus on making the pain go away. A sudden shock of intense pain went through my head, and I gave a small shriek as the memories my amnesia had hidden away floated back into my mind. I remembered everything. I couldn't understand it all, but yet it all made sense.

I opened my eyes and whispered the one thing that I could gather from the sudden avalanche of memories.

"I'm a witch"

* * *

><p><strong>Author's note<strong>

Yes, I am aware that it is kind of early to have a chapter that is mostly a filler. But this was mostly to sketch up her personality so you guys can get to know her a bit. So even though the first part of the chapter was not as important as the last part, I hope you got a look into Evans Denial's mind.

Oh, and about that very sexist joke I made about her mother.. I apologize if I offended anyone, it's just how Evans think because her mother is so interested in cooking.


	3. Memories and bad decisions

I started walking home, my legs taking me home without my head dictating which way to go. This was too much to handle. Either I was imagining things, having hallucinations, dreaming or I was simply a witch. My view on the world had collapsed in a matter of seconds, and now I was trying to grasp what it would mean for my life if the memories were real. I would have to go to that school, Hogwarts, but would they accept me when I had missed 4 years in school? How would I even get in touch with them? And who was I supposed to get in touch with anyways?

My head swirled with questions mixed with forgotten childhood memories and it got too much for me. I couldn't handle all of this pressure! I gave a frustrated sigh and sat down at the curb with my elbows on my knees. Now every single odd thing that had happened to me made sense. The window of my dad's car shattering when I was mad and frustrated over going to my brother's grave last year, a kid bullying me growing nasty warts all over his face because he said I had cooties (which was quite the long time ago), and now my camera lens repairing itself by the mention of one of those random Latin words for repair.

I focused on a very special memory, perhaps even the most important of them all, and I felt the swirling of thoughts subside and a memory, fresh as had I experienced it yesterday, showed, pictures flashing through my mind.

* * *

><p>"Muuuum", I called out. I couldn't find my new baby blue shorts, and I wanted to wear them. It was hot outside, as it always seemed to be on my birthday (I must be behaving) and the only pair of shorts that weren't all torn and full of holes were these new ones that I had gotten the day before for this exact occasion, and now they were mysteriously gone.<p>

"Where are my new shorts?" I called again, even though I had received no answer the first time. I knew she had heard me though. I had learned my 'ignore-her-and-you-don't-have-to-answer'-trick, and if I kept calling for her, she would eventually have to give me an answer. What a lovely mother, ignoring her own child.

I heard a loud sigh from the bathroom and excitedly realized that my mother had given up already. Well, this was after all my birthday. Nobody deserves to be ignored on their birthday, even less their 11th birthday! … I have no idea why that exact birthday should be special, but it is to me! I just had a feeling that something extraordinary would happen!

"I left the shorts on your desk, Evans", my mother called back. I replied with a simple "Ok!" and skipped back to my room in my white cotton undies and my orange tank top and went straight to my desk to get the small piece of fabric. There was no way I would be wearing a skirt today. I hate skirts. Hate, hate, hate them.

I put on the comfortable shorts and started skipping down the hall. When I got to the staircase I stopped skipping and jumped one step down at a time. My brother, Charles was waiting for me at the end of the staircase.

"Charlie!" I called as he turned around and I skipped the last 3 steps and jumped into his unsuspecting arms.

"Well, hello there love", Charles said, making me giggle. My brother was 17 years old and quite the looker. He had curly brown hair and the most innocent brown eyes. Even though he was much older than me, we had always gotten better along than me and my sister, Nicola. She had always been the favorite. She was at the top of the hierarchy, and Charles being the oldest child was right beneath her. I was at the bottom of the hierarchy, but it didn't bother me much. Charles would take care of me. I loved him more than either of my parents anyway.

"Y'know, mum will let me drive today", he said, taking his left hand off my leg that I had swung around him and retrieved something from his back pocket. With a big grin on his face, he dangled our parent's car keys in front of my face, and I looked at him open mouthed with an admiring look on my face. He was 17 so he had gotten his driver's license some months ago, but he had only been allowed to drive when my dad was the only one in the car beside him. My parents were very careful.

"Whoooah", I breathed. He could drive a car!

"And you know where we are going?" he asked obviously very excited.

"The zoo?" I asked excitedly. His grin remained as he answered "Nope", making a popping sound on the 'p'.

"Oh", I said, all out of ideas. I loved going to the zoo, and we had gone there every year on my birthday for as long as I could remember.

"Where are we going then?" I asked, getting curious.

"We are going to Thorpe Park!" he yelled, now making it obvious why he was so excited. Thorpe Park was an amusement park with a lot of very wild rides, and my brother was quite the adrenalin junkie. Well, not the type I-jump-off-buildings-in-order-to-get-my-kick-adrenalin junkie, but the kind that loves a good rush. Roller coasters could easily do the trick.

"Really?" I shrieked. I had been begging to go there for months now! Seems our parents had finally caved!

"Really!" he confirmed, and I squealed into his ear as I hugged him tightly. I could hear him chuckle in my ear.

Our moment was interrupted by my mother walking down the stairs and Charles put me down on my two feet again.

"Are you kids ready?" she asked, putting on a thin violet cardigan. Charles snorted at the use of the word 'kids', as he was very soon legal, and when he turned 18 he would be out of the house faster than they could say 'happy birthday'.

"Sure mum, but I'm not a kid anymore you know! I am 11 years old now", I said proudly giving my mother a toothy smile.

She laughed it off and ruffled my hair, giving me a small peck on the forehead.

"Of course honey", she said and winked at me before looking at Charles' hand with an increasingly worried look.

"Caelan, are you letting Charles drive today?" she asked, shooting my father an accusing look. Amazing how her mood could change within seconds.

"Abigail, he needs to learn", he replied disregarding the killer look my mother was giving him. He looked deeply into her eyes, and my mother's eyes softened. She could never be mad at him when he looked at her like that. With a sigh she grabbed her purse and without a word she opened the front door and walked outside.

"Yes!" I could hear Charles cheer, and he did a small victory dance. He had probably expected this.

My mother re-entered the room, now with the mail of the day in her hand. She had an odd look on her face as she called my name.

"Evans, you've got mail", she called and gave me an envelope. I never got mail! How exciting! I would open it in the car, because my brother needed my help in celebrating!

I joined him in his cheering and only after a few seconds our father sighed and pulled us out of the door so we could get going. It didn't stop us from cheering though, but when we got to the car the brief celebration ceased as Charles realized that he would be the one in the driver's seat today. The car keys in his hand, he got a serious look on his face and opened the door to the driver's seat carefully. He knew that this was his time to shine. If he didn't do well, he would not be allowed to drive with all of us in the car (or without us for that matter) for a very long time. If he did well, he might just be allowed to borrow the car on his own.

Without further delay he pushed himself into the driver's seat and pushed the key into the ignition and turned. The car roared to life and with one last look at the house, he set the car into back-gear, perched his arm on the passenger seat and looked over his shoulder and backed out of the driveway.

So far so good.

I smiled brightly at my mother who was in the seat beside me, looking very uncomfortable and when she returned my smile with a very strained one of her own, I turned my attention to the letter in my hand. It looked sort of fancy. My name and address was written in green ink on the front, and as I turned it around to open I saw that it had been sealed thoroughly with some old sort of stamp.

Curiously, I ripped the letter open and took out the folded piece of parchment.

'Dear Ms Denial

We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted into Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry'

The first few lines read.

'What?' I mouthed. This didn't make sense.

My mother seemed to notice my astonishment and put a hand on mine with a concerned look.

"Are you okay sweetheart? What does the letter say?" she asked me.

I turned to her, about to answer, as I looked out of the window in her side of the car. My mouth was set in a perfect 'O', as I saw the headlights of another car only a couple of meters from us. I lifted my arm to point and tried yelling, but it was too late. A screech and a bang that left my ears unusable later, I locked eyes with my brother one last time and my world went black.

* * *

><p>I came back to the real world, and opened my eyes. I had closed them during the few minutes the memory had flashed through my mind. It had lasted much longer in real life, but reliving the memory took no longer than a few minutes.<p>

I looked down at the pavement on the ground and my eyes found a small rock. I reached out my hand and took the small rock in my hand. I brought it up to my face and studied it with my eyes before bringing my arm back and throwing the stone as far as I could. It went over the house on the other side of the road. Wow, that's a bit far, even for me. My arm was still reached out towards the stone I had thrown as I heard a loud bang in front of me, and a giant bus seemed to have appeared out of nowhere.

An old man was standing in the bus and looking down at me with a puzzled look.

"Whatcha' doin' down there, love?" he asked and stepped out of the strange bus to help me up. Completely dumbstruck, I put my right arm down and pushed myself off the curb, ignoring the hand the old man put out to help me get up.

"Well, okay then", he mumbled before stepping back onto the bus. He looked at me expectantly, waiting for me to make a move, but when he noticed that I just stood there, looking at him a confused look showed on his face.

"Well, aren't you gonna come in? You were the one that summoned the Knight Bus after all! Where is your wand by the way?" the old man said. The Knight Bus? What in the world?

"The Knight Bus? What is that? And why should I have a wand?" I asked, voicing my concerns.

The old man's face paled considerably.

"The bus for the wizard in need of a ride! Why you should have a wand? Bloody 'ell, what are you, a muggle?" he asked.

'Muggle', the word roamed through my mind and I recall having heard it at King's Cross station that day we went to pick up Nicola, so I put two and two together.

"No, no! I am a witch, I just... it's complicated", I said. It was strange to say it. It was strange to be confronted with the world I so obviously belonged to, when I had only just figured out that such things as magic existed. I had just found out what I was, and yet I hadn't questioned it once. I guess I had known all along. I didn't belong among these... Muggles.

"Well, hop on then! Where are you going?" he asked, pulling me on the bus and pulling me through the bus past a few old ladies wearing what looked like Halloween attires complete with big, spiky, green and purple hats.

"Well, I... Do you know what Hogwarts is?" I asked him. He let out a bark of a laugh.

"Of course I do! But you can't go there now, love! It's the summer vacation! But ol' Dumbledore doesn't seem to understand the term 'vacation'! No, he's spending most of his summer at the Leaky Cauldron it seems!" he babbled on.

"Dumbledore?" I questioned. Yet again he gave me a strange look.

"You must be livin' under a bloody rock girl! How can you know of Hogwarts, if you don't know of Dumbledore! He's the effin' headmaster", he barked out, yet again laughing at my ignorance. I didn't do anything to stop him. He looked like he was having the time of his life, and who am I to stop an old man from getting his laughs? Even though those laughs were directed at me.

"The Leaky Cauldron, you say? Could you take me there?" I asked. I needed to see this Dumbledore person. He was the headmaster of the school I was meant to go to.

"'Course ma'am!" he said, now straightening up and getting an entirely different attitude.

"Uh, right. I'll just go... sit there", I said awkwardly while pointing to a seat a few rows down just to get away from the weird old man.

"Well, I reckon we're ready to go", the driver, whom I had not as much as glanced at before now, mumbled and within 2 seconds the bus was in movement.

I was slung to the right, then to the left, then to the left again and then to the right as the bus drove through the streets dangerously with a speed higher than I could ever imagine. I pursed my lips together tightly, closed my eyes tightly and secured my hands on the metal bar right in front of me in order to keep myself somewhat steady.

A shrunken head in front with the driver laughed maniacally and for the second time in my life, death anxiety hit me like a hammer. I wasn't too fond of driving in the first place, considering what had happened, it was only natural, and this made me nothing but straight out scared of the thought of ever getting into a car (or bus for that matter) again.

I opened my eyes and stared at the floor wide eyed as I felt my mouth fill with saliva. I put my hand to my mouth to stop my breakfast from showing itself again, this time on the floor.

Luckily it didn't take long before the bus suddenly came to a halt. The old man joined me and took me by the arm to get me to stand up.

I looked up at him wide eyed.

"Please tell me that we're here", I begged him my voice quite shaky.

"Of course we are here! Now, that'll be 13 sickles", he politely said.

I just stared at him.

"Sickles?" I asked. What the hell were 'sickles'?

"Well, you didn't expect this ride to be free, now did ya'?" he answered, letting out yet another bark-like laugh.

"We-", I said hesitantly before getting interrupted by a voice extremely calm and yet filled with such authority.

"That will not be necessary, Dean", the voice said, and I looked to the front of the bus where yet another somewhat old man stood. He had a long beard and sported a long cape, robes and a big hatlike those witch-looking women. Wow, I'm stupid, of course they were witches.

The man, who was called Dean, looked dumbstruck but quickly recovered and put a quirky smile on his face before accepting the words of the man with the calm voice.

"Alrighty then, off you go, girly", Dean said, pushing me towards the man with the cape, or whatever it was.

I looked between the men with an unsure look on my face, but decided it would probably be good to get out of there. After all, that man had just gotten me out of paying for the ride, and that had got to mean something, right?

As I reached him he smiled at me, his eyes twinkling before getting out of the bus. It was mid day and the street was bustling with people. None of us said anything as the stranger lead me towards a dark abandoned building. It surprised me that I could keep quiet as I was getting nervous. I always had a hard time keeping myself in check when I got nervous.

The closer we got to the door of the rundown building, the less abandoned it looked. Sure, the building was still dark and run down, but through the dirty windows you could easily see that the place was filled with people. We got to the entrance, and before we went in I looked at the large sign above me.

"The Leaky Cauldron", I mumbled and smiled slightly before following the man inside.

Still, no words were exchanged between the two of us as he led me through the cozy bar and up the stairs. We reached the end of the stairs and turned right down a hall before he stopped in front of a door. I stopped walking too, and as he knocked on the door I coughed uncomfortably. This was getting weird. Apparently feeling my discomfort, he looked over at me and smiled reassuringly, before the door opened.

"Dumbledore! What do I owe the pleasure?" the man behind the door asked pleasantly. Even in the dark of the hallway (even though it was mid day, the hallways were unimaginably dark) I could see that his eyes were a bright blue. He didn't have much hair left on his head, and he must have been about 50 years old. Yet his eyes shined out nothing but youth.

Dumbledore. The strange man who had taken me here was Dumbledore?

I looked up at Dumbledore in surprise, finding myself too shook up to actually say anything. I hadn't thought it would be this easy to find him.

"Well, I need a room for Ms Denial as you can see, and I was hoping you could be of help", Dumbledore answered politely, and with nothing but a nod a key appeared in my hand and the door was yet again closed.

Dumbledore started walking downstairs again and I followed him in silence, dangling the keys on my finger. How come I wasn't objecting? I had no say in what was going on, and to be honest, I didn't really know what was going on. What was going to happen to me? How had Dumbledore known that I was coming, or had he even known at all? How did he know who I was?

All of the questions invaded my mind and I didn't even bother trying to answer any of them. I think way too much anyway.

I hadn't even noticed we were back in the bar again, and before I knew it, we were sitting down at a large wooden table in the middle of the place. The table had been swarming with people just moments before, yet Dumbledore had managed to clear the table of people in just a few seconds.

A hot bowl of soup was put down in front of me, and I stared down at it.

"I find Tom's pea soup to be most delightful", Dumbledore said, yet again that twinkle in his eyes.

"Uhm, Mr Dumbledore, why am I here?" I asked timidly. I knew why I was here, I took a wizard bus for crying out loud, but why was he asking me to follow him around? Well, not asking, more like expecting.

"Well, Ms Denial, as you have finally remembered who you are, it is my duty as headmaster of Hogwarts to bid you welcome to the world of witchcraft and wizardry and help you with the things you need to know before going to Hogwarts", he told me in a leisurely pace, making sure I understood everything he was saying.

So I _was_ going to Hogwarts!

I felt excitement shoot through me, but it was quickly gone as I realized what the hell I had just been doing. Now the excitement was replaced by panic.

I had walked away from home, gotten on some weird bus with some dodgy people and then without even thinking twice about it, gone with some stranger into a bar. My parents would soon notice I wasn't coming back from the graveyard! What was I supposed to do? I couldn't very well call my parents and tell them that I would be staying in some dark and rundown pub/motel where an old man had taken me, and that they shouldn't expect me back for a while.

It seemed that he knew everything because he put his hand on my arm reassuringly.

"There is no need to worry, I have owled your parents about the circumstances. Now, we need to talk about what you will need as a student at Hogwarts", Dumbledore said, calming me down a bit. I was still a bit on the edge though. He said that he had 'owled' them. Is that what they do? Is it safe to assume that an owl would deliver the letter? Don't they have post offices? Apparently not.

I stayed and listened to Dumbledore the entire afternoon, occasionally sipping the soup that magically kept itself warm, and before I knew it, he had put a letter containing all of the things I would be needing and the official acceptance letter to Hogwarts that I had not gotten to read 4 years back, in my hand.

"Now, I suggest you go to bed and rest, because tomorrow you will have to go to Diagon Alley to find the things you will be needing at Hogwarts, the term will be starting in only a couple of days"

"But... how am I supposed to get to the school?" I asked, getting more and more confused by the minute.

"All in good time, Evans. As I said, there is no need to worry", were his last words to me before he was gone in the swarm of people surrounding me.

He might have said that there was no need to worry, yet it was the only thing I found myself doing.

Was this really a good idea?

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note<strong>

Now you guys know why Evans didn't go to Hogwarts in the first place! I will try to speed this up a bit so you guys can have some Hogwarts action! I am aware that it is probably pretty boring in the start, but fear not, I have loads of action for you guys in the future! I know this chapter is pretty late, but my beta was busy and there was no way I was posting the chapter without having gotten it corrected! I have been writing a bit on some bits and pieces for future chapters, and it's looking good, if I have to say so myself! Look forward to it! It's some heated Sirius action we're talking about so keep reading!

Thank you for the people who have put this on their story alerts!


	4. Anonymity is hard to obtain

A couple of days had passed and I had been to Diagon Alley to do my school shopping. I hadn't heard from my parents in the meantime, but I had only just gotten myself an owl, and sent them a letter half an hour ago explaining everything I figured they would need to know. Not that I knew much at the given time, but I would explain it to them the next time I saw them, given I had gotten more information by then. But at least now they would know how to contact me. They would have to get themselves an owl though, which I don't think my mother would be too pleased about. That would mean more cleaning, more noise (even though the house would be a lot more quiet with me gone) and expenses for owl treats. But it was either that, or not being able to contact me whenever they wanted. So they would probably give up and buy the damn owl. I had talked to Dumbledore about my departure for Hogwarts, and he told me that I would go with the train, just as all the other students. I was to be at King's Cross Station at platform 9 3/4 at 11 o'clock the next day.

I've been to King's Cross Station before, and there is no platform 9 3/4. How am I supposed to get to a platform that is not actually there?

As I had done too much lately, I pushed the questions away and focused on the conversation I was engaged in.

"But didn't you say that when a wizard is muggleborn and therefore not aware of the wizard world, an employee of Hogwarts delivers the letter personally instead of sending it?" I asked. I had gotten the letter in the mail, it had not been delivered personally.

"Yes. Unfortunately, we wizards make mistakes too, and the letter was therefore sent to you by owl. As soon as we realized our mistake, you were hospitalized and I personally talked to your mother. We agreed on waiting until you got your memories back. It is dangerous to toy with the human mind, and news like that could potentially damage your mind to an unknown extent. That risk could not be taken", Dumbledore answered.

"Well, that clears it up, I guess", I said awkwardly. I was only just beginning to understand that I was actually a witch. I guess I didn't _really_ realize it until I got my wand. 14 magic inches of purpleheart with an essence of pixie dust. It fit right into my hand, and already now, only a few hours after I had bought it, I felt naked without it. I always had it on me, even though I couldn't very well do anything with it other than break stuff or poke somebody's eye out, which is not to be underestimated by the way!

"How do I get to King's Cross? Do I take the Knight Bus again? I don't have any money though, so how would I pay for it? I mean, I don't have a job anymore and even if I did, how do you exchange muggle money into galleons? I don't have any muggle money on me anyways, and to be honest, how am I ever going to pay you back for all of those books and quills and rolls of parchment? I can't really afford it right now, an-" I babbled on, as I was getting quite nervous. I always hated not knowing everything. It frustrated me, and then I started to get nervous and worry, and that's when I started babbling. But fortunately, Dumbledore stopped me in, what would have been, my never ending stream of words.

"It has been taken care of. Your parents paid for all of your equipment. They have transferred some money to Gringotts where I suggest you go today to get some money before you leave for Hogwarts tomorrow. I also suggest you take the Knight Bus. I would have taken you to King's Cross myself, but I have some business to attend to, so I am afraid you will have to find your own way there", Dumbledore said calmly, obviously having it all planned. I felt considerably calmer as he had it all figured out. Normally, I always had the need to be in control of such things, because I never trusted anyone else to do the job properly. If someone told me that the train left at 11 o'clock, I would always go and double check it myself, so I could be sure of it. I guess I don't have much faith in other people. I don't really care though, I rarely make mistakes because of it (if you don't count my clumsiness, I always drop things, but that's because my mind is elsewhere as I get easily distracted). So it surprised me that I trusted Dumbledore enough not to want to go double check every word he had told me. Normally I'm too much of a perfectionist to leave the work to other people, but with Dumbledore it was okay. I trusted him to be right, even though they made a mistake with my letter back when I was 11. He had corrected the mistake after all.

I nodded and pushed the chair out to get up. He had yet again (quite amazingly to be honest) gotten us a table in the pub, but I had to go if I wanted to withdraw some money from the bank.

"Do I need some kind of key to get my money from Gringotts?" I asked Dumbledore, and he nodded jollily. Funny word, jollily. He reached beyond his long beard into his robes and pulled out an old looking, golden key and placed it carefully it in my outstretched hand.

"Take care, Evans", Dumbledore said, and I gave him a small smile. He reminded me of my grandfather: warm and jolly and always seen with a twinkle in his eyes.

I turned around and strutted out of the backdoor where I was met by a brick wall. I counted three bricks up, two across and tapped the brick 3 times with my wand. The bricks separated rather quickly, and the street of magic became visible to my eyes. The street was filled with witches and wizards and the odd muggle accompanied by a child who I assumed to be a wizard starting at Hogwarts. As it was the day before the term started, the shops were even busier than they had been yesterday where I had gotten all of my things. And even then it had been hell to get all of the things I needed because of the amount of people.

I slipped into Gringotts and came out half an hour later, and about 50 galleons richer. 50 galleons didn't seem like a lot, but you could get a hell of a lot for 50 galleons it turned out. I got myself a rather large ice cream (2 sickles and 13 knuts!) and took a look at some awesome looking brooms (sadly the cheapest and obviously worst broom costing 29 galleons). But at least I wouldn't be spending much money at Hogwarts. I mean, what could I possibly spend money on at a school? Unless I needed new quills, parchment or ink I couldn't possibly see what could cost me money. If only I knew.

* * *

><p>"Beep, beep, beep", it rang out from my alarm clock, telling me loudly and annoyingly to get up. It was half past 9 and since I had already packed all of my belongings the day before, I was in no hurry. My parents had owled me (they used Dumbledore's) some of my belongings they figured I would need such as knickers, my toothbrush, an alarm clock and other necessities. Poor owl, I'd say. I mean, how it was able to carry all of that is to be an unsolved mystery.<p>

I clicked the button on top of the clock to make that damn noise stop, and lifted my head from the all too soft pillow. Great, I had drooled on it. Dismissing the fact that my headrest was wet, I put my head back on the damp pillow and sighed before breathing in the smell of the bed. I would miss this bed. It was just soft enough for you to be amazingly comfortable while sleeping, yet not so much that it shaped itself completely after your body, not making it possible to get out of the bloody bed. I hated those beds. They made me late because I couldn't get myself to wake up properly. And I hate being late.

I got up and rubbed my eyes while letting a yawn escape my dry lips. I put my feet on the cold floor and shivered at the contact. "Couldn't they heat up the floor, damn it!" I muttered and trudged to the bathroom that was connected to the room. At first when I had seen the Leaky Cauldron, I would have thought that this was a place where you would have to share bathrooms with the other guests or something. I never share bathrooms. Ever. So it was a pleasant surprise when I inspected the room for the first time and found a bathroom complete with toilet and mirror! I hadn't been expecting much, so the fact that I had my own toilet brightened my mood considerably! Ah, the simple pleasures of life.

I took a long shower and did all the things I had to do before packing up the last necessities I had used this morning. I had laid out an outfit last night, so I wouldn't have to rush in any kind of way. I put on my grey dress and tights and slipped on a black cardigan before pulling on my beat up converse shoes. I should really get myself some new ones.

I made sure that I had my robes in a bag (that Dumbledore had magically enlarged for me so the robes wouldn't be all wrinkly when I had to wear them for the feast), a novel to pass the time, my money and of course my wand, before I tumbled out of the room with my ridiculously large trunk and the cage containing my owl, and down the stairs. This was a time where I wished that I had some magical experience. I imagine you must be able to lift things with magic. That would have made the stairs loads easier.

I managed to drag the damn things down the stairs and out on the curb by 10.20 am. I had plenty of time to get to King's Cross then, considering what speed the Knight Bus drives with. I put down my trunk and clumsily reached my entire arm down the small purse-like bag, rummaging through my stuff before grabbing a hold of my wand. I pulled it out and discretely waved my wand at the street. Not even 5 seconds after, the Knight Bus stopped in front of me, and amazingly, none of the Muggles around me seemed to notice. I don't think they would have cared even if they had noticed. Look at me, going around, calling people Muggles even though I only just found out that I wasn't one of them.

The man from the last time I was with the Knight Bus, what's his name, Dean, stood in the bus, ready to welcome me to the Knight Bus for the second time that week. It was Thursday and my birthday had been some days before, Monday the 29th of August. It seemed like an eternity ago that I had been refusing to see my brother's grave. So much had happened since then. And in the midst of steppinginto the bus, I realized that I had not opened the birthday present from my parents yet. I would do it in the train, I decided, and nodded at Dean who carelessly levitated my trunk onto the bus, even though there were Muggles going by on the street. As always, they didn't notice.

"You off to King's Cross, I assume?" Dean asked.

"Of course, it's the 1st of September!" I replied and quickly added "How much will it cost?".

Dean let out a hearty laugh and smacked his thigh. I didn't know people actually did that. Slap their thighs while laughing, that is.

"That's already taken care of love! Now you go find a seat to place your bottom on, and we'll be right there in a few minutes, it's not far!"

"Okay", I mumbled, sort of bemused. It seems everything had been 'taken care of' lately, but who am I to complain? It spared me a couple of sickles, and to be honest I am a bit of a cheapskate when it comes to things like this. I hate spending money on transport and other sort of things, while I could be spending the money on things that weren't actually a necessity. I will have a serious problem sticking to a budget when I move out from home.

Making sure Dean had placed my trunk and my stunning light brown barn owl, Clu, a place where I would quickly be able to grab them when the bus reached King's Cross, I sat down and placed my bag in my lap as I waited for the hellish ride to begin. I suspect that this might be one of those things I never get used to.

I felt the bus move underneath me, and suddenly we were moving with unimaginable speed through the streets of London. Feeling queasy, I just closed my eyes and tried to avoid getting thrown out of my seat every single time we turned, which proved to be quite difficult. While the previous ride had taken 15 minutes (which is actually amazingly fast, as it normally takes about 40 minutes to get to London from where I live), but this time, it only took 5 minutes. With my heavy trunk and Clu, I stumbled out of the bus and only just noticed Dean waving a jolly wave at me, before he along with the bus disappeared down the street.

The amount of people here on King's Cross matched that of Diagon Alley the previous day and I had quite the hard time pushing myself through the crowd. I checked my watch, and it was only half past ten, but I figured it would take me some time figuring out where to go. Clu hooted which made me receive quite the amount of odd looks from people that were obviously not familiar with the world of wizards.

I decided to go with the flow of people that had the same ridiculously large trunks and owls, though on luggage trolleys. I would really have to get one of those.

It took me 5 minutes to find one, but the effort was not wasted as it became a lot easier to maneuver my things around and before you knew it, I was at platform 9. And as I had expected, I saw no platform 9 3/4.

I looked around for some minutes, but found no platform 9 3/4 nor any wizard or witch to show me to the Hogwarts Express.

Frustrated, I gave a sigh, and Clu obviously felt my frustration because she hooted along with my sigh. I looked at her heart shaped face and chuckled at her. She really seemed to understand me. I guess owls really are clever, or perhaps it's just the owls wizards have. How should I know?

Suddenly, as my frustration was about to reach such a critical point that I could punch something (or some_one _for not telling me how to get to the platform), I remembered. Last summer when my mother and I were dropping off Nicola, I had seen someone go straight through a wall right between platforms 9 and 10! Of course! There could be no other explanation! They had been going to Hogwarts!

My mind did a small victory dance - I was not about to humiliate myself in public, and I lined up at the brick wall between the two platforms. I decided to walk, just in case I was wrong. I didn't really want to attract more attention than necessary by walking straight into a brick wall. No thank you.

I took a deep breath, and casually strolled towards the wall, while trying to whistle to look unsuspicious. I actually looked even more suspicious while doing that, I figured and stopped whistling as I received some odd looks.

As my trolley reached the wall I closed my eyes and took one more step, and as my trolley didn't collide with anything, I kept on walking. After five steps more, I opened my eyes and was relieved to see another platform than the one I had previously been on. I had been right. This was platform 9 3/4.

I looked to a sign, and to my surprise it said platform 10 3/4.

'What in the name of-', I thought and started panicking, before I was pushed from the back by a girl with ginger hair aggressively pushing her way through the crowd to a pair of boys laughing at something. With a swish of her wand, the sign went back to what I assumed to be normal, and it said 9 3/4 again.

With a sigh of relief, I walked closer to the dark haired boys and the aggressive ginger to see what that had been all about. I assumed the boys must have been laughing at the look of horror on the 1st years that had walked onto the platform and thought that they had gone to the wrong place. I had been one of them.

"-ou immature brats! Do you want people to walk off the platform again because they think this is platform 10 3/4?" she scolded.

"Oh, please Evans! People would have to be bloody daft if they think this is platform 10 3/4! There isn'teven such a platform!" one of the black haired boys said. As I got closer, I could see that he had grey eyes. I had never seen grey eyes before, but that didn't make them any less gorgeous.

"No, you know what, Black? I am prefect now, and you had better pull your act together before we get back to the school, or else I will report you", she spat at him.

'Isn't that kind of harsh for a prank?' I thought. Well, I thought I had thought it, but as the three people turned around to look at me, I realized that I must have said that out loud. What a great first impression.

Ginger glared at me, while the two boys grinned and took the chance to take her down a notch. Looks like she needed it.

"Yeah, Evans! I mean, we don't even know this girl, and even _she_ thinks that you are being unreasonable", the bespectacled boy said, snorting a bit while laughing. Oh how attractive.

Seeing this as my cue to leave, I took my trolley and looked at the boys one last time, catching the eye of the incredibly handsome boy who Ginger (that is her new name in my book) had referred to as 'Black'. He winked at me and grinned, which I answered with a lifted eyebrow and a smirk before I trotted off to get rid of my luggage, a certain set of grey eyes on my mind.

* * *

><p>"Finally", I muttered as I found an empty compartment. The train had been surprisingly full, but then again, the train <em>was<em> leaving in a bit less than 10 minutes.

I relaxed into my seat and pulled out my novel, as I might as well start reading now if I wanted to finish it by the end of train ride. I had 250 pages left of the book, but the train ride I had in front of me was about 6 hours so I was in no rush. I had a feeling I would not find motivation to read novels once at Hogwarts. I would have too much to catch up on. Plus, I would probably find everything so fascinating with this new world that I wouldn't really do anything but (attempt to) do magic all the time. I mean, I had only led the life of a witch a few days, and already I couldn't wait to learn magic! It was frustrating not being able to do anything but smash things and make sparks with my wand, so naturally I wanted to learn actual spells, even though I must admit that those red sparks I produced were kind of neat.

Soon the platform was cleared and the train suddenly set into motion. I lowered my book for a few seconds to see the platform roll by, but quickly devoted my attention to the book in my hands. A few minutes passed by in almost complete silence, the only noise occasionally breaking it being the shuffling of paper as I turned the page. Unluckily, this silence did not last for long.

An obnoxiously loud barking laughter shot through the compartment, as the door slid open to reveal the same two dark haired guys from the platform. Obviously they were pranksters, extremely loud and therefore: annoying.

I looked over the edge of the book and noticed two other boys enter right behind the handsome but loud pranksters. The first was a boy a bit shorter than the two boasting morons in front of him, but he was still taller than me. He had short, light brown hair with a hint of grey in it and he looked absolutely exhausted, sick even. He was quite handsome though. The second person was a chubby, short guy with a rat-like face and small watery eyes. He didn't look like he was part of the group, but more like a mere fan of theirs. It looked quite creepy to be honest.

Having observed this, I yet again lowered my eyes to the words in the book, I didn't want to be caught staring at them. I started reading again, hoping that I would be able to concentrate, even though there were now four more people in the small compartment.

The young men sat down and made themselves comfortable. Comfortable apparently meaning loud in this case, as they could not, and would not shut up it seemed.

With a loud sigh, I slammed my book shut, creating a small oasis of silence in the previously unbearably loud compartment. I had given up on getting some reading done when I had become blessed with the company of 'Black' and the bespectacled moron. The others didn't seem to be making any noise, I noticed. Actually, the sick-looking boy was reading even though it must have been impossible for him to concentrate. He must be used to it, if he is around these people all of the time. The rat faced boy just seemed to be... staring. At me. Oh boy.

"Well, look what we have here!" a surprised voice said. It belonged to the boy with the glasses.

"It's the girl from the platform!" 'Black' exclaimed in a loud voice. His hair was short and his features much more refined than I had first noticed. I couldn't help but let my eyes drift to him.

"Well spotted Siri!" the boy with the glasses stated sarcastically and looked me over. I felt a bit uncomfortable as his eyes roamed my figure and I put my book in my lap in a pitiful attempt to hide my thighs from view. I hate my thighs. Which is why I hardly ever wear pants anymore. A complete contrast to the younger me, I know. But after a serious case of puberty, I switched from pants to skirts and learned not to Ben & Jerry's for breakfast on Saturdays.

"Why thank you Jamesy poo", 'Siri' replied and winked seductively to James (I am assuming this is his name), who in turn made a slightly disgusted face before diverting his attention back to me.

"Aren't you going to come and sit with us?" James asked, and grinned as he pointed at the seat beside him.

"Technically, I am sitting with you", I said flatly and raised a brow at him, challenging him.

"Not close enough, love. Not nearly close enough", he replied with a wink and another look at my figure.

With a sigh, I gave up and put the book down beside me before going pealing myself out of the corner and walking to the opposite side of the compartment to sit right next to James.

"That's better! Now, I must thank you on helping us deflate Evans a bit" James said, only to be interrupted by Black.

"Yeah, she really needs to get that prefect badge out of her arse", Black chimed in, receiving a stern look from James.

"No problem", I simply said, and occupied myself by looking out the window to see all of the trees quickly passing by.

"What is your name by the way?" James asked, forcing me yet again to focus on them.

"Evans. Evans Denial." I said, and held out my hand for him to shake.

"Evans? Is that your first name?" Black burst out, apparently finding my name funny in some kind of way.

"Yeah, what about it?" I asked and dropped my hand, as James was obviously having an internal fight, and didn't look like he was about to announce his name or shake my hand.

"Well, you might have noticed that a certain red haired prefect's last name is Evans, and now James is getting confused, it seems", Black said and finally let out that barking laughter he had obviously been holding in.

Confused, I looked to the other side and sent the two boys a questioning look. They just shrugged it off, as this was obviously a normal occurrence, and introduced themselves politely.

"Remus Lupin, nice to meet you", the handsome boy said and I smiled at him, muttering a soft "likewise", before turning my attention to the fanboy of the group. He was staring deeply at me, but eventually got himself together for long enough to stutter out "Peter Pettigrew". I politely smiled and gave him a nod, before yet again looking out the window while waiting for the grey-eyed prankster to stop laughing so they could properly introduce themselves. It took a while, just about 5 minutes before he calmed down enough to pat James' back and boldly put out his hand while stating:

"Sirius Black, at your service", while winking at me. I had a feeling I knew what kind of services he provided.

"Evans Denial", I replied, reaching out my hand to shake his.

"Wonderful name, love", Sirius said and added another wink. Right. Why are people coming on to me? In my whole Muggle life, I had never been hit on more than 2 times, and one of the times, it was an old man. Now, I have two extremely handsome boys beside me who are flirting with me, and a person who won't stop staring at me, and I haven't even been on the train for more than 20 bloody minutes! What is wrong with this world?

"Right. Aren't you going to make some kind of joke about me being in denial?" I asked.

"Aren't you going to make some kind of joke about me being serious?" he retorted, making me laugh. I might _just_ be able to get along with him.

The train ride ended too quickly, and I found myself saying goodbye to the so called 'Marauders' as a giant man with a lantern stepped out in front of me, loudly calling out.

"First years! First years! Evans Denial!" he yelled, and I poked him in the back to get his attention. He didn't notice.

"First years! Evans Denial! First years!" he continued calling out, and I poked him harder in the back. Luckily he reacted this time, and he turned around to face me.

"Evans Denial, I assume?" he asked in a heavy accent and I did nothing but nod. He was slightly intimidating to me as I had never in my life seen a man that big, but I guess there's a first for everything. After he had managed to scare all of the first years, we were all taken down to a big lake we were told was called the Black Lake. As we were all sitting in the boats, me sticking out like a sore thumb because of the obvious age difference and height, the boats started moving. And then I saw it. Hogwarts. Whatever Dumbledore had told me could never have prepared me for the glorious sight before me. The entire castle was enlightened, from the windows of what appeared to be a big hall, to the highest towers of the castle. The place was so obviously magical that I could hardly believe such a place existed. It looked anything but man-made, and for the first time in my life, I found myself doubting whether God existed or not.

If you think I am exaggerating, you have obviously never seen Hogwarts in its nightly glory. For it is enchanting.

Unable to look away, I spent the whole trip over the Black lake taking in every detail of the castle. The trip ended too soon, and we were all ushered into the castle. Two adults, presumably teachers were waiting for us in the entrance hall as we all entered. Even though both of the teachers looked stern the man looked pretty jolly, but yet slightly annoyed with having to deal with such a tedious task, while the woman just looked stern, perhaps to avoid all of the noise a bunch of 11-year olds would make.

The male, jolly teacher moved swiftly as soon as he laid his eyes upon me and with a few quick strides he was directly in front of me.

"Miss Denial, I presume", he said to which I nodded.

"Follow me", he uttered and turned around. His pace was surprisingly quick for his size as he walked up the stairs, and I had a hard time trying to keep up with him. We walked up the amazing amount of stairs in silence, though I found it quite hard to keep my mouth shut as the stairs started moving. I managed to keep quiet though, as I would have a chance later to take all of this in.

As we reached the 6th floor and I was starting to get a bit worn out, the jolly professor decided that we weren't going to go up more stairs. Luckily.

He turned and walked down a corridor, until he stopped in front of a big statue of a gargoylebefore he muttered "Lemon drops". I stared at him quizzically, as it made no sense talking about candy in front of a statue. Much to my amazement, the statue hopped aside, and revealed a moving stairway. After getting over the minor shock of everything moving on itself, I followed the professor up the moving stairs. At the end of the stairs, we stopped as we got to a door. Without as much as knocking, the professor went straight inside, and as I assumed I was just to go along, I did.

I was in complete awe. The large room was decorated with all sorts of magical items that I didn't know what were, and could in no way describe. All of the pictures on the walls were moving, as were all of the other paintings in the castle, I had noticed. There were large stone arches, and the space on the walls that were not occupied by paintings, were filled with thousands and thousands of books. This was truly an office worthy of a headmaster.

I was soon snapped out of my awe as the jolly professor coughed and decided to introduce himself.

"Welcome, my name is Horace Slughorn, I am head of the Slytherin house and potions master", he said formally and reached out his hand for me to shake. I looked down at the hand, and reached out my own while saying:

"Evans Denial, pleased to meet you". We shook hands and he invited me to sit down, while we were waiting for Dumbledore. Apparently, I was to be sorted into a house, and as Dumbledore didn't want me to be questioned too much about my absence, so he had arranged for me to be sorted after the ceremony in his office, to avoid too much attention.

As we waited, Slughorn had a small house elf bring up some food for me. I was intrigued to see that the magical creature appeared from and vanished into thin air. Slughorn explained to me that that would be something I would also be able to do when I became a 7th year student, if I wanted to learn how to do it. I took in all of the information he gave me greedily as I ate, and became very fascinated with his stories of famous wizards and witches he was acquainted with. Time flew by quickly, and before I knew it the door was opened by none other than the headmaster, professor Dumbledore.

I quickly got up from my chair, but he signaled for me to sit down again, and I complied.

"I hope you have been enjoying yourself, Miss Denial, but now I must insist that we get you sorted so you can get acquainted with your dorm mates before it gets too late", Dumbledore spoke. Nodding my head enthusiastically, professor Dumbledore summoned some kind of black hat.

"Now, this is the sorting hat. It will look into your mind to find your true values, and based on that, sort you into one of the four houses. Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, or Slytherin", he explained.

I hadn't told the boys on the train that I was the new girl, as I had not wanted to draw any unnecessary attention to myself. That did not work out anyways, seeing as the boys on the train had been very keen on making me the centre of their attention, and therefore abolishing every wish of me not being the subject of people's attention. They had told me that they were in Gryffindor though, and since they were so outgoing and friendly, I would hope that I would be in the same house. Then at least I would know someone. Someone quite handsome, too.

Dumbledore placed the hat on my head and I felt it come alive and penetrate my mind. It was a slightly uncomfortable feeling, having someone poke around in my brain, but I kept my mouth tightly shut.

"_Ah, yes. Gryffindor you say? Perhaps, perhaps. Or maybe you would be better in Ravenclaw. I see a great amount of wisdom in you, but perhaps you are a bit too lazy to be in Ravenclaw. Hufflepuff would do you a lot of good. I see much loyalty in you, but your kindness is lacking for a Hufflepuff student. Slytherin is no place for you, so perhaps you will find yourself well in Gryffindor. You are lacking some bravery I see. I am sure you would do well in Hufflepuff.." _the hat told me in my head, making me jump slightly.

"_Please, Gryffindor", _I thought intensely, hoping that the hat would hear me.

"_You are certainly keen on Gryffindor. But if you are certain, then..."_

"GRYFFINDOR!"

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note<strong>

Quick update! The next one will not be so quick, but this chapter is fairly long, so I hope you guys don't mind.. I do have other things to do than write fanfiction.

I hope you enjoyed the chapter.


	5. First day of school and a dangerous game

Chapter 5: First day of school and a dangerous game

**Author's Note**

Thought I'd leave you a note to start off with. First of all, I have something important to tell you guys. My lovely, awesome and amazingly talented beta gave me a cool idea, because I was complaining about how long this story will end up being and that it will take me ages to write. She suggested that I split it up, so that's what I am going to do! It will be spilt into three stories, one for each year Evans is at Hogwarts. And since I am not going to rush through the storyline, each story will be the length of any normal story!

The first part is from Sirius' point of view, and so is the last part. I warn you, semi-mature content in this chapter!

This is a long chapter, so enjoy!

* * *

><p>"Who is this new chick anyways?" I drawled from my position on my bed. Dumbledore had announced that there would be a new girl moving in at Hogwarts and that we would receive more information once she had been sorted into a house. The only thing he had bothered to tell us would be that she had just turned 15 and would therefore be attending 5th year. He didn't even tell us a name.<p>

Of course, I had heard none of this, as I had been too busy wolfing down my dinner, but James had filled me in on the scarce details.

"I'm not sure. I heard Lily talk to Scarlet about some girl who once when we were 1st years didn't turn up when she was called to the sorting hat. Lily said that she recalled her surname being Daniels or something, perhaps it's her?" James said casually, as he threw a green every flavor bean with white dots into his mouth. His face quickly turned sour as the bean turned out to be with the taste of spinach.

I laughed at him and threw a nearby pillow at him.

"Oh yeah? And you don't think you're putting just a bit too much faith into Evans' memory?" I teased, knowing that would get a reaction out of him.

And it did. He stopped looking disgusted and swallowed the damn bean before turning serious. No pun intended.

"I would never doubt her, mate", he said looking completely like a lovestruck puppy.

"Whatever mate", I said while rolling my eyes. That hadn't been the reaction I was hoping for. James was getting creepier and creepier when he was dealing with things concerning Lily Evans. And it had stopped being funny anymore. I mean, he wasn't like this last year, and then after the summer holidays, it seemed that he had gotten infatuated with her after having seen her on a Muggle beach in a bikini.

Trying to get the awkward talk off the topic of Lily Evans, temporary love of James Potter's life, I brought up one of the three golden topics, partying (the two other being Quidditch and mischief making).

"Guess we'll just have to throw a small welcoming party to get to know the new girl then, what do you guys say, you in?" I suggested. As the Marauders were never ones to say no to a party, they all agreed. We decided on upcoming Saturday, giving us the entire day of Friday to spread the word to all of our fellow Gryffindors and to get our hands on some... refreshments.

This was going to be bloody brilliant!

'I hope she's hot', I found myself thinking before drawing the curtains around my bed and falling into a deep sleep, exhausted from the long day.

* * *

><p>I laid my eyes upon the room that would be my home for the next three years, and much to my pleasure, it already felt like home. Even though the walls and floors were made of stone, the whole place shone out warmth and coziness with the big wooden beds that all sported large curtains for privacy, the girly mess that had already been established despite the short amount of time since the arrival and the homely rugs that were strategically placed by the side of each bed.<p>

"This is where you will be staying for the duration of your schooling, Miss Denial", the stern female from before, Professor McGonagall, told me. "Your belongings have already been brought up. Now, I will leave you to acquaintance yourself with your roommates", she finished off and turned around swiftly before disappearing out of the door, before I could mutter as much as a small 'thanks'.

Turning around to face the dormitory yet again, there were now four girls in front of me. One of them being the aforementioned 'Ginger' Evans, stood scowling before me with her arms crossed and her green eyes burning with contempt. I must have really pissed her off good. The other three seemed less frustrated with my presence, and quickly introduced themselves.

"Hello, Evans, was it? I'm Leanne O'Reilly", a small girl with dark blonde hair told me. "This is Emmeline Vance", she pointed to the next girl in the row, a slightly taller paler girl with long flowing brown hair. "That's Lily Evans", she pointed to the red haired glowering one whomI already knew, and at last pointed to a very petite girl with short black hair, "and that's Alice Prewett".

"Hello everyone", I said awkwardly as they all said their hellos.

"So, yeah, my name is Evans Denial", I told them, now waiting for the inevitable mocking that came with my introductions.

I heard a snort come from Lily. Of course she would mock me. I was probably her new sworn enemy or something. I could care less to be honest.

"Denial? That's quite a special name. I've never heard it before to be honest, how is it spelled?" Emmeline asked me.

"Like the word 'denial', but it's pronounced 'Denyel'", I replied, ignoring the not so attractive outburst from the still scowling Lily Evans.

"Oh, really? I imagine you get a lot of stupid jokes", Leanne said, chuckling slightly, probably feeling lucky not to have such as stupid name as I have.

"Jokes are all I ever get", I answered while letting out a short laugh.

The rest of the evening went with gossiping, even Lily acted quite civil, and as I lay down in my bed to sleep that evening, I knew that this would be the start of something entirely new for me. I was no more the old lonely Evans Denial, I was the new and social Evans Denial, with friends!

Before falling into a deep sleep, I realized that I had only been here for a couple of hours, and yet I felt more at home than I had ever done in my actual home.

This was the best thing that had ever happened to me.

* * *

><p>I take that back, bloody hell the floors were cold in the morning. I shivered as I carefully stepped out of the warmth of the rug by my bed and onto the cold stone floor.<p>

We had gone to bed quite late the night before, and even though we only had one day before the weekend, they still required that we have classes, as it was still Friday. Couldn't we have come to school on a Friday instead of a Thursday, then we wouldn't have to have classes right away? This was just bloody stupid. Of course, my opinion could be acknowledged as fairly biased as I had stayed up half of the night gossiping, and was therefore extremely tired and even more grumpy, but that still didn't change the stupidity of the situation.

I grunted as Alice uttered a light 'good morning' in greeting and dragged myself into the bathroom and promptly dropped all of my clothing on the floor, while stepping under the cold water coming out of the shower head.

I swore as the extreme coldness, and quickly turned it over to hot. Well, at least the cold water had woken me up.

I took a quick shower, not wanting to waste too much time on my first day of wizard school, and walked out into the dormitory with a small towel around me.

The other girls had now woken up and were looking about as grumpy as I had been previous to my shower, and in their zombie-modes they fought for the shower, making me bless the fact that I had gotten up earlier than them. I was in no mood forvicious females in the early morning.

I dried myself off and pulled on my lucky bra, as I figured I would need it since it was my first day of school and I wanted to make a good impression. After having pulled on my underwear, I took out my school uniform, looking at it with disdain. I loved the fact that we wore robes over our uniforms like a coat, but the skirt was just terrible. Normally I'm not into short skirts or anything, but this was ridiculous. It was below the knee.

With a shudder, I pulled it on and put on the rest of the uniform, feeling quite pleased with everything else than the skirt.

I looked at myself in a full body mirror that stood in the corner of the dormitory, and frowned down at the awful grey piece of fabric hanging lamely below my knees. It made my calves look fat and my legs look short.

"Screw school regulations", I muttered and folded it up a bit so it was an inch above my knees.

"Better", I said, now approving of the girl staring back at me in the mirror. Well, almost. I got my bag with makeup and put on some mascara, some dark grey eyeliner and a light layer of red eyeshadow on my lids and a bit just under my eyes to make them seem bigger, while still being subtle. Extensive use of makeup didn't seem like the best idea if I wanted to make a good impression. And I definitely didn't want people staring at me, even though that was inevitable as I was a new addition to the 5th year Gryffindor troop.

I let my hair hang as it always did. My hair was always completely straight and thin, no matter what I did to it. I could go weeks without combing my hair, and people wouldn't notice. But then again, it _is_ awfully short, so that may be part of the explanation.

As I had finished, Lily stepped out of the shower as the last one (incredible how she didn't get the shower first with her temper), and Alice was the only one ready to go for breakfast. The other girls were either putting on their ties or doing their hair or make up, so I decided we might as well go together. Alice had been awfully quiet last night, perhaps I could get to know her now?

"Hey Alice, do you want to go down for breakfast? It seems that the others might take a while" I said, pulling on my black shoes that were also required for the uniform.

"Sure", she said quietly, and as I finished my struggle with the shoelaces, shot her a toothy smile and walked out of the dormitory after her.

We walked in silence, much to my dismay. I wanted to get to know her, but seeing as the old Evans Denial had no friends, I wasn't much of a conversationalist and therefore I stayed silent, instead of saying something utterly ridiculous as I always do in awkward situations. Therefore, the walk to the Great Hall was silent.

We got some stares and whispers along the way, and even though I tried, I found it hard to ignore them. I felt like an animal in the zoo, and I didn't like it one bit.

As we entered the Great Hall, the entire hall quieted down considerably. Actually it was only the Gryffindor table that became silent as the word had gone around that I had been sorted into Gryffindor, but as it was the Gryffindor table that made the most noise, it felt like the entire hall quieted down for our sake.

I looked down shyly as we silently made our way to the watching eyes of the Gryffindor table.

* * *

><p>"I heard she got into Gryffindor!" James squealed. It turns out some of the 6th year guys had seen the new girl enter the Gryffindor common room with Professor McGonagall the night before, and had spread the word. Now the entire school knew of the fact that she had been placed in Gryffindor and that she was short, curvy, blonde and pretty damn hot. No wonder all of the Gryffindor guys were excited to survey the new girl, as it had been said that she was fit.<p>

I pushed my dark hair out of my grey eyes and was just about to reply as everyone around us abruptly stopped talking. It was like everyone was holding their breaths while looking towards the doors that lead out to the entrance hall.

"What the bloody hell-", I mumbled and followed everyone's curious gazes to the doors.

"THAT'S EVIE!" James yelled out into the silence, making the people at the table realize they had been staring. Everyone retracted their gazes and looked at their peers before yet again being engaging themselves in their previous conversations. Evans looked at James with wide eyes, most likely shocked to death by his sudden outburst. But to be honest, she was not the only one who had been shocked. We, the Marauders, were all completely dumbstruck as she shook herself out of her revery and started walking towards us with that small and shy girl in our year. What's her name? Ali? Lisa? Alice? That's it! Alice!

The moment she sat down I shook off my unattractive face of surprise and put on a look of pure boredom. Sirius Black doesn't get surprised. Surprise gets Sirius Black'd.

... I need to work on that one...

"So... You didn't tell us you were the new girl", I said to her, trying to sound indifferent with my face resting in the palm of my hand, and with that bored look on my face.

I watched as her face was flushed as her eyes found mine.

"Well, I figured it wasn't that big of a deal", she said, shyly, biting her lip slightly. She was obviously nervous.

Of course she is nervous with me around. I make everyone swoon. Everyone. Even the guys. Not that I'm too proud of that.

"But... but... we could have helped you! We could have shown you some awesome magic!" James lamely burst out.

She rolled her eyes.

"You can still do that, y'know. I still haven't seen real, amazing magic yet, so I have yet to be awed" was her reply, and it perked James up considerably, getting him out of his sulky mood.

I found myself grinning, as I recognized it as a challenge. The first prank of the year would need to be grand, majestic even! Some advanced magic that would put our new friend here into a coma of awe of how awesome it was!

"Challenge accepted", James said while grinning maniacally. I locked eyes with James and at the same time, we burst out into an evil laughter that ran through the entire Great Hall, getting us quite the amount of stares.

"Great, now they'll be plotting for weeks", Remus groaned, while Peter just stared as if he didn't know whether to laugh with us or groan with Remus. Instead he just stared. That's Peter for ya', good ol' awkward Peter.

Finishing up our laugh of doom and wreckage I quickly pulled some breakfast onto my plate and noticed that everyone but James and Ihad almost finished eating. Great.

In a matter of minutes, Evans pushed her plate away from her and called out "See you guys later", before strutting out of the Great Hall with Alice trailing behind her.

I looked down to my plate again and dug in, before Remus spoke up.

"Weren't you going to invite Evans to the party?" he asked looking up from the scrambled eggs he had been pushing around on his plate for a couple of minutes now.

"Fuck", James swore and got up from the bench before walking towards the doors to the entrance hall calling back to us "I'll ask her", before he disappeared out of the doors.

* * *

><p>I was talking to Alice about the commotion that had been in the Great Hall when we had entered, as James interrupted us.<p>

"Hey, Evans! Alice!" he called out to get our attention, and with my eyebrows raised, we both turned around to face the boy behind us.

"We're hosting a party to celebrate being back at Hogwarts. We're meeting up in the common room tomorrow evening at 8 and then we're going to a secret location for the party", James said as he caught up with us. "So, you guys are invited. Tell the rest of the girls to be there! Oh, and don't invite anyone who's not in Gryffindor!" he said, and before any of us had a chance to intervene, he was walking through the doors back into the Great Hall, probably to finish his breakfast.

I rolled my eyes and turned around again to walk towards the Gryffindor tower to get our stuff. Class would start in 20 minutes and there was no way I was going to be late on my first day of school.

"So", Alice said, waiting for me to comment on the news.

"So, what?" I asked her. I didn't really know what to think about this party. If there was a 'secret location' that meant that it would not be a party approved by any teachers, which then again meant that there would happen things (excessive snogging), or be things (alcohol, cigarettes, drugs, etc.) at the party, that would not be approved by teachers.

"Well, are you going?" Alice asked, now going for the direct answer.

I frowned a bit as I thought it over. Would I be going? What if we got caught? What kind of place was this 'secret location'? To me, it all seemed kind of risky, and to be honest, getting in trouble wasn't high on my list of what to do on my first week.

"Eh, I don't really know, to be honest, I don't want to get in trouble", I told her. Normally, this would be the kind of thing I would use a week on deciding, but now I didn't even have two days to make my decision.

"If it's the Marauders planning this party, then you most likely won't get in trouble. Sure they get a lot of detentions for their pranks, but that's only because they want the credit for having made a great prank and always ends up telling everyone it was them who did it. They are always very careful when it comes to parties, because it would cost them a lot more than detentions if they got caught with the amount of fire whiskey they seem to be able to conjure", Alice replied quietly.

"Really?" I asked her, quite shocked. How in the world could they get a hold of whiskey when they weren't 17 yet?

"Yeah, apparently Sirius is quite... familiar... with the proprietor Madam Rosmerta it seems", Alice muttered, while blushing furiously.

This piece of information made me gasp at first, but then I started laughing of the absurdity. The owner of a pub was getting bribed with sexual favors by a 15 year old boy so he could get alcohol. Oh this was just too bloody brilliant! Who does that kind of thing?

"He's such a slut", I managed to say through the laughs that shook through my whole body. Alice snickered at that comment, but ended up laughing along with me, as my laughter sounds utterly ridiculous and was therefore very much contagious.

My whole stomach was aching and my cheeks were sore from laughing as we reached the Gryffindor common room. Though it seemed we were not entirely done laughing, as Alice and I were still snickering as the fat lady asked for the password. Now even the password seemed funny.

"Flibbertigibbet", I laughed out before the fat lady could ask me for the password and Alice and I ran through the portrait hole, yet again laughing. Okay, that password was actually pretty funny. Who made up those passwords anyways?

We reached the dormitory that was completely empty and I took a look at the timetable Professor McGonagall had provided me with yesterday and noticed much to my dismay that I would not be having normal classes the first couple of months.

'This will do wonders for my social life', I thought sarcastically as my eyes scanned the writing on the paper. I would be having one on one lessons with the professors, sometimes even Professor Dumbledore. Actually, my very first lesson was with Dumbledore in his office. Oh, I would also have several tutors it seemed. To 'help me catch up and help with homework' as McGonagall had put it.

"Great. So I'll have some smarty pants git boast over how smart he is compared to me. I can hardly wait", I mumbled to myself earning myself a glance from Alice who thought I was talking to her.

"Never mind", I muttered and put the timetable in my leather messenger bag along with the books I would be needing. Couldn't they just have given me a stack of books for me to read and then that would be it? What was all this crap about tutors and one on one sessions? It was all preventing me from making friends and act as if I was normal there. I mean, being a wizard couldn't be _that_ hard, now could it?

* * *

><p>"Can we <em>please <em>take a break?" I moaned, feeling absolutely drained. It was like someone had sucked all the life out of me. How in the world could magic be so draining? And we were only just getting started. One of the first things he had taught me was 'alohomora', a spell to unlock things that had been, well, locked. I did fairly well with that one considering it was my first try of magic ever, and yes, I was deeply fascinated when it worked, but after having been taught 4 different spells in one lesson, my fascination with magic just wasn't enough to keep me going.

"I'm starting to feel completely drained", I complained, sitting down in a chair. Actually, it was more like lying down in a chair.

"Yes, I agree, now would be a good time for a break! Let's start with some of Hogwarts' history", Dumbledore said cheerfully, making my jaw practically unhinge itself as it dropped.

"You said we could take a break!" I yelled accusingly at the old man, making him chuckle.

"Yes, a break from training magic. We will move on to something a little less draining", he replied sneakily. Damn crafty old man!

"That doesn't mean that this won't be mentally draining", I mumbled and groaned as I straightened myself in the chair I had occupied. I pulled out a quill, a bottle of dark green ink and some parchment. I weighed the quill in my hand, wondering how long it would take for me to become good at writing with these things. Perhaps these one on one lessons weren't such a bad idea after all. I mean, I would never be able to keep up with taking notes in class if I couldn't properly write with a quill, which I couldn't yet.

"Have you gotten used to writing with a quill yet, Ms Denial?" Dumbledore asked me, as if he had read my mind.

"No", I mumbled, dipping my quill in ink and testing it on my parchment. Hmm, it wasn't that hard.

"We'll take it slow then", he told me jollily and started talking about the history of Hogwarts, starting with the 4 founders and going through all of the important historic events. He told me about the Yule Balls, the Triwizard Match, Quidditch matches, OWL's (that I would be facing this year) and NEWT's and basically everything that normally happened through a regular school year.

The lesson ended rather quickly, as Dumbledore was a great teacher and told the stories of Hogwarts with such enthusiasm that I couldn't help but be fascinated. I eagerly took in every piece of information he offered me, and moved the quill quickly over the paper as he talked. By the time Dumbledore had finished, I had filled up 4 feet of parchment, and my hand was immensely sore from writing so fast when I was not used to writing with a quill.

I bid Dumbledore goodbye as I walked out of the door and the gargoyle hopped aside to let me by. I walked straight down to the Great Hall without discarding my bag in the dormitory as I was mentally and physically exhausted and desperately needed some food. It wasn't likely that next lesson would be any less difficult, meaning that I would need the energy.

And I was right. The next lesson was with McGonagall who was teaching me all sorts of transfiguration spells. I learned how to turn a rat into a crystal goblet, even though it took me a couple of tries. I had done a lot better with the various charms Dumbledore had taught me. The lesson Dumbledore had given me was a mix between Defense Against the Dark Arts, History of Magic and Charms. With McGonagall the only subject we focused on was Transfiguration.

The rest of the day went by pretty quickly. The lesson I had with Dumbledore had been a double lesson, but since transfiguration with Professor McGonagall was only a single lesson, I had to go down to the dungeons for a potions lesson with Professor Slughorn before I had yet another break. I found out that I was actually quite good at potions as I was very precise when following the instructions.

After a small break, it was time for Herbology and Care of Magical Creatures in the last two lessons. It turned out that I was pretty good with animals, while I got bitten by a Mandrake 4 times in a row and fainted because I hadn't put my earmuffs properly on before I had taken it out of the pot. As you might have noticed, Herbology was not going to be my favorite subject.

Finally, as it was time for dinner, I dragged my exhausted body down to the Great Hall and lay down on one of the wooden benches at the Gryffindor table.

"I fucking hate my life", I moaned, noticing the hall starting to fill up with people and trying to ignore the stares I got from laying on the bench.

"Aww, tough day?" a light voice asked, every word laced with heavy sarcasm. If I hadn't known that Lily could be a straight out bitch, then I would have thought her incapable of sarcasm. But she very much knew of the concept it seemed, as she stared mockingly down at my moaning form on the bench.

"Shut up, you bitch", I told her, with my hands covering my face, and therefore muffling my response, making the sentence quite incomprehensible to her.

"What did you say? I'm a great witch? Why thank you, Denial!" she said, again with that lovely sarcastic tongue of hers. She even said my last name in the wrong way, just to agitate me. I just knew it!

"Come off it Evans, it's her first day", a deep voice addressed Lily accusingly. Finally, my knight in shining armor. I spread my fingers a bit so I could peak through to see who it was, and there he was - man whore Sirius Black in all of his glory. I giggled at the thought of the gossip I had heard earlier that day, and pulled myself up, groaning from the effort it took me to do so.

Lily rolled her eyes and stalked off, obviously not liking being told what to do. I smiled up at him with gratitude, as I was not really in the mood nor in the state for a cat fight.

"Thanks", I said quietly, receiving a small smirk in return as he sat down next to me.

"So", he said. What is it with everyone starting their sentences with 'so'? What are they expecting me to say?

In the lack of a better response, I replied as I had done that morning.

"So, what?"

"So, are you going to the party?" he asked, throwing all sorts of food onto his plate as soon as it appeared on the table.

"Dunno", I replied curtly. I didn't really want to talk about it before I had given it some more thought. Or else he would end up convincing me to go despite my normally thoughtful ways. If I had learned one thing from my short friendship with Sirius Black, it is that he can make anyone do just about anything. He has a way with words and persuasion.

"What? Why?" he asked, looking genuinely confused, his mouth filled with an unidentifiable mash of food and his eyes wide like a child's.

"Swallow before you talk, Sirius", I scolded jokingly. "I don't know. I don't want to get in trouble y'know", I continued, giving Sirius time to swallow his food.

"Aw, come on! The only reason we're throwing this party is because we want to get to know youuuuu", he said, dragging out the vowel making him sound just as much as a kid as he looked like one when eating.

"Really? Why?" I asked.

"Merlin... forget it", he said grumpily, turning away and looking down at his plate. This was why I shouldn't have said anything.

"Fiiine… I'll go", I told him, giving up. He immediately looked perky again and jumped up from his seat, pumping his fist in the air and yelling "YES!"

... And then he fell backwards onto the floor as he stumbled over the bench. Graceful one, that Sirius Black.

This can't possibly be good.

* * *

><p>It was Saturday evening and even though I would rather throw myself off the Astronomy Tower than participate in this social gathering, I had made a promise to Sirius, and I am not a person to break promises. Well... okay, that's a lie. I was going to ditch the party, but then Leanne and Emmeline showed up out of nowhere and dragged me into the bathroom to give me a make-over for the party.<p>

"There! Done! Now, drop all of your clothing, find a strapless bra and get back in here. You have 2 minutes", Emmeline said, threateningly. Shit, she can be scary when the situation calls for it!

I ran from the bathroom into the dormitory, randomly throwing my clothes on the floor as I went. I rummaged through my trunk and found a black strapless bra and my black lucky knickers (yes, I have lucky knickers) and put them on hurriedly before getting pulled back into the bathroom for whatever they were going to do to me.

Leanne held out a small piece of black fabric for me to take. It was a rectangular piece of fabric with half a zipper in each short end.

"Uh, what is this?" I asked them, confusion evident on my face.

"That's your dress for tonight, let me help you put it on", Emmeline answered me quickly and grabbed the 'dress' out of my hands.

"How does it-" I was about to ask, as Leanne held up my arms and they placed the fabric around my body and zipped it up in the back, from arse to mid-back. It was unbearably tight. And short.

"Bloody hell, that's short!" I complained as it didn't reach lower than an inch and a half below my arse.

"And why does it zip all the way up? That's just weird!" I burst out, hoping that they would give up on this silly thing if I just complained enough. It didn't work though. Damn.

"Stop complaining, you look H-O-T!" Leanne said, excitedly, clapping her small hands together while squealing a bit.

"Hmm, I think it needs something", Emmeline said, skeptically.

"Yeah, 4 inches of fabric", I replied glumly.

Leanne snapped her finger, looking like she got an idea.

"No, I know what it is!" she said, her eyes brightening.

Oh no. What now?

She took out her wand and muttered something under her breath and I felt the dress tighten around my chest.

"There. More cleavage!" she said, and high fived Emmeline.

"MORE cleavage? Are you guys trying to get me raped?" I asked, my eyes bulging as I looked at my breasts in the mirror. They were practically falling out!

"More like get you laid", Emmeline muttered under her breath, and Leanne burst out laughing, making me glare at them both.

"Oh stop that, you don't look threatening with your boobs hanging out like that", Emmeline said, rolling her eyes at me. She bent over and pulled out a pair of black high heeled shoes from under the sink and threw them at me.

"Here, I'm assuming you don't have any yourself. You can thank me later", she said cockily and walked out of the room. Both Emmeline and Leanne were already both dressed and in their shoes, so they helped (forced) me into the high heels and before I knew it, I was walking down the stairs at a slow pace as I felt quite wobbly in the shoes they had forced on me.

"Bloody hell", I heard from the common room as we got down the stairs safely. I looked up from my feet that I had been closely observing, in the hope of not falling down the stairs, and saw the Gryffindor 5th, 6th and 7th year guys staring at us three girls. I tried to keep my cleavage hidden from view, failing horribly it seemed as the guys were still ogling.

"I told you, you are going to get me raped tonight", I hissed at the two girls under my breath.

"Get you laid, Evans, laid. Not raped. There's a hair-fine line between those two, y'know", Emmeline whispered back, hiding a grin. This had obviously been the plan.

"Let's just go already", I mumbled as girls Lily, Alice and some girls from the other years came down the stairs to the dormitory.

We sneaked out, as we didn't want to be caught in our skimpy dresses, as that would cause a great deal suspicion among the teachers.

We reached a blank wall on the 7th floor, and all stopped in front of the stone wall. Suddenly a door appeared and Remus' head popped out of the door, ushering us inside. Not before the door was closed did I take my time to check out the room and the sight stunned me. How could the teachers not know of this room?

It was large and circular and had a large dance floor where the lights were dimmed and a lot of colorful lights were put up to create an appropriate atmosphere for dancing. Not that the dancing would be appropriate, quite the opposite was more likely. In the other side of the room was a table with fire whiskey, butter beer and even some Muggle vodka and rum.

Wow, Sirius must really be a good shag for him to get all of this out of Madam Rosmerta. Not that I would ever know.

I found a couch with Alice, and we sat there and watched as the music turned up and people got themselves hammered. Not even 10 minutes passed by before James turned up and dragged me out of my seat, wanting me to dance with him.

"I don't dance, James", I told him quickly and went to sit down again, not wanting to stay too much on my feet as my balance was not really all that great in those horrid heels.

"Well, then we're getting you a drink!" he yelled and turned around and marched towards the drinks table with my arm in his grasp.

"Fine", I mumbled, not really minding. I could use something to take my mind off how bored I was, and alcohol seemed like the only possible solution here. Well, other than snogging and dancing, but as I refused to do either, I would have to settle for getting hammered instead.

James poured me a shot of fire whiskey, and ignoring the small sparks on the surface I downed it, grimacing as it burned all the way down my throat, making me want to throw up.

"Ugh, that's just terrible", I mumbled and put the glass down on the table again. "Pour me another one", I said to him, making him grin and pour me another... And another... And another...

"Come on Jamesy, let's dance", I commanded and pulled a very happy and very drunk James out to the dance floor. At first my movements were hesitant and slightly awkward, but I soon got the grasp of it and moved my hips to the sounds of the music.

I never did this kind of thing. I never got drunk, I never danced, I never had _fun_. And now I was doing it, I was drunk, I was dancing and I was having a hell of a lot of fun!

James and I were not exactly dancing in an appropriate fashion, and suddenly I felt him get a bit _too _excited.

"Shit", he muttered, looking embarrassed. I looked down at his pants wide eyed, feeling quite shocked at the effect I had had on him. My expression changed from shocked to amused, and then, in the middle of the dance floor, I burst out laughing.

"You might wanna go take care of that", I laughed out at the embarrassed James.

"Uh, yeah", James said awkwardly and turned around, quickly pushing himself through the crowd trying to hide the tent in his pants.

I followed him out of the crowd and got myself a couple of shots more, feeling my ability to react become worse and worse by every shot I downed.

"I am not snogging anyone..." I stated to myself. "Why am I not snogging anyone?" I mumbled, starting to get the annoying urge to kiss someone.

"Fuck it", I mumbled and stumbled back onto the dance floor, this time alone.

* * *

><p>I could hardly stand watching her. Her body swayed from side to side as she danced with her eyes closed. The light on her made her look absolutely angelic as she raised both of her hands above her head and brought them down along the plentiful curves of her body. She was so fucking hot. I wanted her. I needed her. Yet, I knew she was piss drunk, so I shouldn't make a move on her. It wouldn't be right. But she was just so damn irresistible. I had to, even though my morals told me otherwise. The alcohol clouding my judgment won, and I decided to go for it.<p>

I edged closer to her and she turned her back to me, showing me her all too perfect backside. She put her hands down to straighten out her dress that only just reached below her well shaped bottom, and I almost groaned out loud. The way she danced made me want to pounce her right here, in the middle of the dance floor and do unmentionable things to her.

She made a twirl and her soft hair danced around her face as I made my move. I caught her, just as she was losing her balance from twirling. Don't ever try twirling when you're drunk and in incredibly high heels.

"Well, 'ello", Evans croaked out, and I smirked sexily. Well, it got me into other girls' pants, so I assume it must be sexy.

"Hello, love", I responded and checked her out very obviously. Might as well make my intentions clear.

"Thanks for uhm, holding me... Catching me, I mean!" she babbled, showing me once again with her restricted vocabulary that she had had a couple of drinks too much.

"Going already?" I asked, bringing her closer to me and looked down to her lips and back up to her eyes. If she didn't see it, she was blind.

She wasn't blind, it seemed, because she instantly reacted on my charming ways. She bit her lip, an incredibly innocent and sexy act, and looked up at me through her long lashes.

"Perhaps not", she stated and brought her face closer to mine.

'Wow, that was surprisingly easy', I thought, as I swooped down and brought my lips to hers in hot ecstasy. Soon all thoughts were banished and my mind was on nothing but the feel of her lips against mine. She skipped the innocent light kisses I brought down on her lips, and pushed her tongue directly into my mouth, fighting mine for dominance. I pulled one of my hands through her hair, and rested my other hand on her lower back, inching further and further down as the kiss got more intense.

I reluctantly pulled away and put the hand that had previously been engaged with messing up her hair down to her waist, and slipped the other hand down to her bottom as I nibbled her earlobe and breathed heavily into her ear. I could feel her shiver and much to my pleasure a light sound erupted from her throat.

"Wanna get out of here?" I whispered, and leaned down to kiss her neck to await her answer. Nobody around us seemed to notice our very public display of affection, because they were all too far away in their own little world to notice. Everybody was drunk as hell, and most of the couples on the floor were snogging anyways. That's Gryffindor parties for ya'. Everybody turns slutty. And that kiss had just gotten me ready to get just a bit more slutty than I already was.

I could hear her gasp as I kissed her neck, and without an answer, she pulled me away and dragged me out of the room by the arm. Never have I seen a female walk that fast in high heels. And I hear they hurt like bloody hell to walk around in!

We exited the Room of Requirement together, and she stopped for a short while to take her heels off, so she wouldn't make so much noise. Well, that, and she was now able to run. I grinned as she dragged me off to the Gryffindor common room. Hopefully she was just as... sexually frustrated as me!

Almost yelling out the password to the fat lady in the painting (who was looking very appalled) we entered the common room and ran as fast as we could to the boys' dormitory. It would be empty as all of the guys were at the party.

Evans burst open the door to the dormitory and dragged me to the nearest bed. Well, she's eager. I like that.

Finally, she turned around to face me, and with a lusty gaze, she dropped her heels on the floor, closed the distance between the two of us and pulled me down for a kiss, if possible, making it more intense than our previous one had been. I put my hands on her bottom and lifted her up. She wrapped her strong legs around my waist and I stumbled towards what was hopefully the bed. Luckily, I wasn't going the wrong way and as my legs hit the end of the bed, I grunted in surprise. Continuing the kiss, I put her down on the bed, still with her legs wrapped tightly around me. She loosened them a bit, and we broke off the kiss in order to get further onto the bed.

I hovered over her, and with a playful smirk she crawled backwards while looking me deep into my eyes, challenging me to follow her.

She wanted to play? That could easily be arranged. I took in her light short hair stopping short a few inches over her breasts that were a little bit too visible in that dress for the public to see. Her eyes were glossy, but her movements seemed elegant and controlled, making it clear that she was not as drunk as I had first presumed. All the better!

My grey eyes looked into her clear green ones and I let out a small growl as I crawled towards her. Acting like a kitten, she put up a hand and made a cat-like gesture while purring like the feline she currently resembled. A very sexy feline.

The game continued until her back reached the headboard of the bed, and I was hovering over.

"Game over, love", I muttered and traced my finger from her forehead, down her face, down between her breasts and all the way down to her navel. I could feel her hot skin through the fabric. The fabric that kept our needy bodies apart. I placed a trail of small kisses down her body where my finger had previously traced. She shivered, and a moan of pleasure slipped through her red lips. She closed her eyes for a second, but quickly opened them again and regained her composure.

"Oh but we're just getting started", she whispered seductively, pushed me away from her and reached behind her to unzip her dress.

I bit my lip softly and watched in anticipation as her arms moved lower and lower, pulling down the zipper.

She got on her knees on the bed and let the dress fall to the bed, revealing her black strapless bra that didn't leave much to the imagination. I felt my trousers get a bit tight around the crotch and she smirked as my eyes slowly took in all of her body.

Bloody hell.

With a grin I started pulling off my robes, and stated: "Well, let the game begin, shall we?"


	6. The aftermath

**Author's note**

The story changes point of view somewhere, I'm sure you'll notice where. This is a short and pointless chapter, but it felt like the right place to end it. Plus, this was mostly written for my own entertainment!

Aaaand I know what you are going to say, it seems very early, both age and chapter wise for sexah-time, but I assure you there is a meaning with all of the madness!

You will see that I focus a lot on Evans' hangover, but I'm trying to make it obvious that she feels terribly bad for herself. I love torturing my character, plus, I am trying to make Evans as realistic as possible. Evans just happens to be very self absorbed because of all the time she spent without friends. She doesn't really know how to act around people and I think it's important to reflect that.

Let me know if you think I succeeded in making Evans a believable character.

* * *

><p>My eyes fluttered open, and I groaned, now feeling the wrath of my body as it was punishing me for consuming such scandalous amounts of alcohol the previous night.<p>

The room was cold as the Gryffindor dorms always are, and I shivered as I felt the cold air hit my body. This was colder than usual.

I looked down my body and much to my shock, I was naked. And this was definitely not my dorm!

'Oh no... What did I do last night?' I thought, panic starting to set in.

I noticed a small noise, a snore, which came from right beside me. Slowly I turned my head and was met by a mop of ruffled black hair.

"I didn't!" I gasped, putting a hand over my mouth to keep myself from screaming as the guy rolled over and I was met by the face of none other than Sirius Black.

'We couldn't have! ...Or could we?' I thought, becoming unsure of myself. I had no idea what I had been doing the night before. 'Is he naked?' I asked myself and decided to take a small peak to find out. I slowly lifted the blanket that covered his lower anatomy and quickly looked down under the blanket.

"Definitely naked. And male", I mumbled while blushing a deep shade of red.

"Coming back for more already, love?" a deep voice asked, earning a small surprised shriek from me.

"Wha-wer-did-we" I stuttered, as Sirius laughed and leaned over and placed a small kiss on my dry lips, rendering me completely dumbstruck and unable to speak.

"Last night was incredible", Sirius said boyishly with a large grin on his face. It snapped me out of my zombie-like state and without thinking, I blurted out:

"Did we shag last night?"

Silence. Disbelief.

"WHAT?" Sirius yelled out. Right, okay. Either we didn't, and he's appalled by the mere thought, or we did shag and I forgot about it. I was hoping for the first, but sadly the latter seemed more likely. I mean, why else would we lay naked together in his bed?

So much for not wanting to get in trouble. I had barely been there for 3 days and already I had dug myself a hole larger than all of the craters on the moon combined. Stupid Sirius. He's such a... a... an un-cup-y cup!

...Wow, that was probably the worst insult I have ever made up. I had better keep it to myself then.

"You don't remember?" he yelled, causing my head to pound painfully.

"If I remembered, would I be asking?" I hissed back, shielding my ears with my hands. "And keep your voice down", I added, taking in his face of disbelief.

"I can't fucking believe this!" Sirius mumbled turning around to lay on his stomach and buried his face in his pillow.

"YOU can't 'fucking' believe this? I'm the one waking up in your bed, having no idea why I was here", I said angrily, raising my voice slightly.

He sat up in the bed again, probably to get a better angle at shouting at me.

"You're complaining? You got to sleep with me!" Sirius stated cockily, again in disbelief. "I wake up and find out that the girl I slept with last night has no idea what we did!" he added, obviously feeling ridiculously bad for himself. He sighed as he heard me let out a little growl.

"I GOT to sleep with you? Since when has that been a goal of mine? YOU BLOODY TOOK MY VIRGINITY YOU ARSEHOLE!" I yelled, now giving up every hope of keeping the argument quiet. While yelling, I went from poking him in the chest for every word, to pounding on his chest with my fists, feeling about ready to burst out in tears at this stupid situation.

"Y-you were a-a-a virgin?" Sirius stuttered out, obviously shocked. I couldn't care less. I was so frustrated with myself for letting myself do this and angry at Sirius for taking advantage of me.

"Look at me! Of course I am a virgin!" I yelled at him in tears.

"Well, were", he mumbled, correcting me and it did nothing but fuel my anger and drag out more tears.

"Plus, how was I supposed to know? You were all... seductive last night", Sirius defended.

"I was drunk Sirius. Bloody, blatantly pissed! And you just chatted me up as if I were sober! You must be bloody daft not to have noticed!"

"I'm not daft"

"Well, if you're not daft, then you're a bastard"

"Am not!"

"Are too!"

"Am not!"

"Are t-... You know what, this isn't worth it. Why am I even still here?" I asked myself and pushed the blanket off me, not really caring about my naked state anymore. Sirius groaned at the sight of my naked body, but the alcohol remaining in my blood made me feel a bit more daring.

"You can't just leave me hanging here", Sirius said, referring to his lower body, obviously hoping to get the most out of the situation.

"Do it yourself, arsehole", I said bitterly and threw one of his own socks at him, before stepping out of the boys' dormitory, more or less dressed. As the dress I had been wearing the previous night could not possibly qualify as 'fully dressed', 'more or less' would have to do.

The small windows showed that it was barely sunrise, and I sighed as I stumbled down the stairs, having a hard time keeping my balance and not tripping down the remainder of the stairs. That would be a sight for sore eyes. Note the sarcasm.

The trip up the stairs to the girls' dormitory proved itself to be much more difficult. I felt dirty. My entire body was exhausted and still affected by the alcohol in my system and my throat was too dry for me to properly utter a sentence. It was actually quite amazing that I had been able to say anything in the presence of one certain bastard. The taste in my mouth was absolutely terrible, and my stomach rumbled, feeling quite unsatisfied with what I had put it through last night.

As I finally managed to drag myself up the stairs (I had to sit down on the stairs several times as my head was spinning), I went inside the dormitory and started feeling guilty for what I had put my body through. I would have to go and run or something later to feel better about having consumed so much alcohol. Ugh, running.

Much to my relief, the dormitory was empty and I dropped my dress, and sluggishly pushed myself to the bathroom to brush my teeth and get some water. The water quenched some of my thirst, but awakened a terrible nausea, much to my dismay. It didn't help that I could hardly bend over the sink to get some water without almost falling forwards and connecting my head with the mirror.

As I had completed said tasks, I slowly moved back to the dormitory, opened a window to let in some crisp morning air as I felt as if my body was burning up with heat, even in this already much too cold dormitory. Especially my face suffered as the headache pounded against my skull.

I lay down on the bed and closed my eyes, only to quickly open them again. When I closed my eyes it felt like I was sent spinning, only making my nausea that much stronger.

"For the love of-", I muttered just as the door burst open.

"LOOK WHO'S BACK!" Leanne squealed while looking me over, spotting the bite marks on my neck and stomach and grinning as she realized that Emmeline's and her plan had been successful. Jesus christ. What people think of getting other people laid when they're only 15 years old? This was all their fault!

With nothing but a groan as reply, I rolled onto my stomach, but quickly regretted the act as it now put pressure on my much abused guts. I groaned yet again and rolled back, much to the girls' amusement. This was not funny.

"So, I see you _did_ as a matter of fact get laid yesterday", Leanne said smugly, stopping only for a second before adding: "We did wonder where you had gone to".

"So, who's the lucky guy?" Lily said, sarcastically taking in my dishevelled state. I mumbled something very inaudible and something very rude under my breath about a certain boy.

"What's that?" Emmeline asked, raising a thin eyebrow.

"Srs Bck", I mumbled, not really wanting them to know.

"Care to speak a little louder, love?" Leanne asked, now getting really curious.

"Sirius Black", I said louder, waiting for their reaction.

* * *

><p>"Bloody hell mate, you look like you had some hell of a night!" James shouted as he slammed the door open.<p>

"Shut up", I groaned and turned over in the bed.

"Sirius", a voice said threateningly.

'Oh oh', I thought as I realized what bed our nightly activities had taken place in.

"Remus, I can explain!" I defended as I quickly sat up in the bed, accidentally pushing away the blankets covering my nudity.

"Explain what? Who you shagged in my bed?" he growled and lunged at me, making me shriek in surprise and jump from the bed to avoid getting attacked by the enraged werewolf.

James laughed loudly as I ran absolutely starkers around the dormitory with Remus chasing after me. Must have been quite the sight.

"Consider it a favor Remus! Your bed is now officially sexually initiated", James shouted through his laughs. I roared with laughter which slowed me down a bit. Remus took this chance to pounce and had me pinned to the floor within a few seconds. He clenched his fist and drew it back in preparation for a well-aimed punch.

"I didn't know you batted for the other team, Remus", I stage whispered and winked at him. He looked at me, confusion winning over his anger as he lowered his fist.

"What are you-oh..." Remus said as he discovered my obvious nakedness.

"Wanna get sexually initiated... with me?" I asked, trying to keep the laughter at bay.

As I had predicted, this time his embarrassment did nothing but fuel his anger and he swung his fist at my face just as I pushed him off me and rolled over the floor and got up to hide behind James.

"Mate, get off me! Go put some clothes on! I don't want to have to look at your knob while you're wrestling Remus!" James complained and pushed me off him to go and observe the struggle from his bed.

"Feeling fruity are we, Remus ol' pal?" I teased, dodging the furious boy's fists.

"Says Mr Camp himself," Remus huffed and this time got me right on the cheekbone sending my naked body to the floor.

"I'm the camp person here? It looked like you were having the humps there when you were straddling me on the floor", I provoked, after getting over the small shock of being hit straight in the face. "And SHIT that hurt, mate", I added as the hit re-awakened my alcohol induced headache.

"Nice one, Remsie!" James applauded and threw me a pair of boxers from my trunk.

"I thought you were on my side, James!" I whined and started putting on the boxers.

"Well, you're naked, and if I was on your side, I would be the camp person. And there's no way I'm being called 'Camp Jam' again. Not after I just got rid of the bloody nickname", James replied making us forget everything about the one-sided fight.

"Who actually came up with that? It's the worst nickname ever. Plus, it doesn't even rhyme", Remus said, reliving the time when James had been caught singing into a hairbrush in front of a mirror during 4th year, which resulted in him being dubbed 'Queen of Hogwarts' and got him the nickname 'Camp Jam'.

"Slytherins of course! They have got troll brains that lot", I answered before stumbling to his own bed for a bit of a kip before going down for breakfast, thereby ending the awkward conversation.

It seemed Remus noticed what bed that left him with, because his reaction was somewhat verbally violent.

"NO WAY AM I SLEEPING IN MY BED AFTER THAT!" Remus yelled as Peter stumbled into the room, looking frightened and disheveled.

Where on earth had he been since the party?

"Don't make the poor boy wee his pants Remsie", James scolded, trying to sound adult and mature. He soon failed as he started snickering at the look on poor Peter's face.

"Looks like that's a lost cause", I snickered before rolling over and closing my eyes.

* * *

><p>"No, really.. Who did you shag?" Emmeline said, laughter evident in her voice. How she could think that I was able to joke in this state is beyond me. I didn't even dignify that with an answer.<p>

"Evans?" Leanne's worried voice rung through the dormitory.

"Yes?" I replied in my weak voice.

"Were you being serious?"

"No, but he certainly was", I replied my voice loud and sarcastic.

"Oh Merlin, I feel so bad for you Evans", Lily said, ignoring my pun and for once sounding sincere. How can she just change like that? Is this some sort of love hate relationship that we've got going? Well, it would require that we had any sort of relationship, which we don't. So perhaps not. Oh well.

"He's such a slut", Alice commented, bringing me back to the conversation we had had on my first day of school.

"Yes. Yes he is Alice", I replied and closed my eye. The feeling of spinning around in circles had gone. Finally.

This situation was tragically laughable, but no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't bring myself to find it even remotely funny.


	7. The difference is caring

**Author's Note**

**WARNING: containing an overflow of lewd comments.**

I imagine you must hate me right now. First I don't update for two god damn months, and then I show up with an un-beta'd chapter that isn't even that long. And I have nothing else to tell you than I spent a month writing this because I didn't know which situations I should put Evans in, and then my beta got a cat and I think she forgot all about this chapter. And she's on vacation now, so I decided that I would publish this so I could get it off my back.

(In case you didn't notice, the beta'd chapter has now replaced the un-beta'd one)

As always, some POV-changes, they're pretty easy to spot, just warning you so you won't get confused.

I don't like this chapter, but I hope you enjoy it anyways. I'm terribly mean to Evans.

* * *

><p>For the second time that day, my eyes fluttered open, but much to my relief, I was in my own bed in my own dorm. I wished it had just been a bad dream, but I knew that would be too good to be true. After all, I am a master of screw-ups. And this time, it was so literal I could barf. Actually, I did feel like throwing up at the time, but that was for entirely different reasons. My headache had not decreased over the hours I had slept, and my body still felt like a troll had thrown itself on top of me. Well, that had actually happened. Not quite I guess. But... A troll... Sirius Black... What's the difference, really? They are both at the same intelligence level, and saying that would probably be flattering the troll.<p>

Yes, I was mad. No, not mad, I was ready to rip my hair out, that's how pissed I was. How dare he? How **dare **he?

I stood up and took the nearest thing from my bedside table and threw it as hard as I could, which turned out to be pretty damn hard, at the nearest wall. The impact crashed and completely shattered my wristwatch that had been the thing closest to me. Luckily it had been cheap, so I didn't really care much, and to be honest, in my rage, I was beyond caring.

I was fuming as I paced back and forth through the dorm, desperately needing something or someone to vent my anger on.

'How could I have let that desperate, needy, selfish, gorgeous, amazin-NO! He brainwashed me! How can I think like this?' I asked myself and groaned in frustration as I recalled his naked body, getting memory flashes of the night I thought I had forgotten. I closed my eyes, secretly savoring the memories and took some deep breaths, trying to calm myself down a bit before I ended up hitting a wall, which would surely not suit my already battered limbs well. I did not have good experiences with limbs and walls.

"Why does he have to be so damn pretty?" I mumbled and felt ashamed that I had so little self-control. After all, it takes two to tango, and I had more than willingly given myself to him. I guess I couldn't really blame him, as I had obviously been just as enthusiastic as he had in our nightly deeds.

"If this is what shagging does to people, then I'm joining a nunnery", I mumbled and went over to the bathroom door to see if it was occupied. I desperately needed a bath.

Just as I was two steps from the door, with my hand reached out towards the handle, the door suddenly opened up and I jumped in surprise and quickly withdrew my hand.

"Oh hello Evans, I see you're up. You look like one who desperately needs a shower", Alice said as if she was reading my mind, with a towel around her head and her underwear-clad body covered up by thick red dressing gown.

"Yeah, I was planning on taking a shower. I smell terrible", I answered and grimaced as I took a strand of my hair and sniffed it. It reeked of alcohol. Gross.

Alice answered with nothing but a half amused, half disgusted face and for the first time I noticed that I had been alone in the dorm. I had been too caught up in my thoughts to as much as look at my surroundings.

"Where are the others?" I asked Alice and looked down to my left wrist to see what the time was, only to realize that I had taken the watch off the previous day before the party and had just smashed it against the wall. "And what time is it?" I added. I was starving. Maybe if I was lucky they hadn't had dinner yet.

"I don't really know. Lily said something about going to the library and Emmeline and Leanne are probably prancing randomly around in the castle looking for boys. And I think it's about 5.30", Alice answered pulling off her dressing gown as she walked towards her trunk. "You should probably hurry if you count on making it to dinner at 6", she added before pulling a grey jumper over her head.

"Right", I mumbled and quickly stepped into the bathroom, discarding of my underwear just as I closed the door behind me. I took a quick, much needed shower and stepped out feeling refreshed and content. I had come to terms with the fact that I had slept with Sirius, now I just needed to do damage control. I knew that the marauders would probably know by now, as it seemed that Sirius would not be able to keep such a thing a secret from his best friends. Though, that didn't mean that the whole school would have to know. I knew Sirius' reputation, and to be known as one of his accomplishments was not on the top of my to-do list this year. Even though he could now strike me out on _his_ to-do list. Ha, ha. Very funny Evans.

I put on some clothes and at 5.55 I was ready to go to the Great Hall for some dinner. I hadn't eaten since dinner the previous night. Not that I would have been able to actually keep any food in my stomach for any amount of time this morning. My nausea had been, in the lack of a better word, devastatingly nauseating, which had naturally resulted in a lack of appetite.

Alice had waited for me, so we went down to the Great Hall together. As we walked, a feeling of paranoia washed over me. I didn't know who knew about me and Sirius, and it felt as if everyone was staring at me. Some were, but since they didn't whisper and point, I am guessing it was because I was the new girl, fresh meat, that they were staring.

As we reached the Great Hall, I stopped abruptly outside the large doors, not bothering to stop Alice from walking on. I didn't want to go inside. I had felt brave and rational in the dorm when I had decided that I needed to talk to Sirius to do damage control, but to be honest I was scared as hell over how he might react to seeing me. After all, the last time I saw him, we had been fighting, arguing or whatever you call it. He might mock me, or even worse, stand up and announce what we had done to the whole hall. I knew I wouldn't be able to bear the embarrassment. But he had every reason to make a fool out of me. I had yelled at him. Would I be able to stop him if he decided to punish me for that?

My thoughts swirled around in my head, and I didn't notice that Alice had stopped walking and had been trying to get my attention by waving a hand in front of my face.

"Evans? Are you alright? It is going to be okay y'know. He won't do anything", she reassured me, as if she had read my exact thoughts. Am I really that predictable?

"But... I yelled at him. Why wouldn't he make a fool out of me?" I asked, trying to hold back the tears of frustration that were threatening to spill.

"Look, maybe he hasn't even told anyone", Alice reasoned, avoiding my question. She knew as well as I did, that Sirius Black was not a subtle person. If he wanted to make a scene, he would make a scene, and nothing would be able to stop him from doing just that.

"Fat chance", I mumbled, but reluctantly let her lead me into the Great Hall and to the Gryffindor table. When we got to the table, and she was about to sit down as far away from Sirius Black and his gang as possible, I surprised her by taking her arm and dragging her with me towards the people I should really be avoiding. But this needed to be done.

"What are you doing?" Alice asked, confusion obvious in her light voice.

"Damage control", I mumbled just loud enough for her to hear as I sat down right opposite Sirius. Alice nodded and the confused look turned into a neutral one as she sat down beside me and started pulling food onto her plate.

Sirius looked at me in surprise and his conversation with James came to a halt as he noticed me at the table. James looked at the two of us questioningly. I just greeted him with a nod and turned my attention back to Sirius. James probably knew, so I wouldn't have to drag Sirius away to talk to him. Excellent. I would prefer not to be alone with him.

As I didn't want to give myself a chance to back out of confronting Sirius, I just took a deep breath, opened my mouth and started talking.

"Look, I'm sorry about yelling at you this morning and just running away. I shouldn't have. I mean, we both wanted it, even though I was drunk when I wanted it an-" I was interrupted by a gaping James.

"WHAT? ARE YOU TELLING ME THAT YOU WERE THE GIRL SIRIUS THAT SLEPT WITH LAST NIGHT?" James yelled out. Everyone around us quieted down, and a moment later the entire hall went silent. I felt my cheeks get red with embarrassment and the tears well up in my eyes as whispers broke out. Everyone had heard that. Everyone was looking at us. Everyone was whispering, gossiping. I was now officially one of Sirius Black's accomplishments.

I looked at Sirius in surprise for his reaction, only to find that he was looking at James. The look James received practically promised that he would get a long and thorough beating when dinner was done, a verbal and perhaps a physical one.

If the situation hadn't been so serious, I would have laughed at the mortified look on James' face, but now was not the time for laughter.

I couldn't hold back the tears anymore so I did the only thing I could think of to get out of this situation. I got up from the bench and ran.

So much for damage control.

* * *

><p>I watched in shock as Evans ran out of the hall in tears. Stunned, I turned to James, and observed the guilty look on his face. Good, he should be guilty for what he had just done.<p>

"Com'ere you moron", I growled as I got up from the bench and pulled him with me, out of the Great Hall. I knew that Evans would most likely already be out of sight, so I didn't even bother thinking about going after her. Not that it would make much of a difference whether I ran after her or not. She probably hated me with a passion after that stunt James just pulled.

Just as we stepped out of the Great Hall and had gone to the staircase I turned around and punched James square in the face. A girlish scream erupted from James' mouth as my fist hit his nose. Within seconds blood started running out of his nose and down his face.

"Idiot", I growled sourly at my best friend as he cradled his nose.

"Bloody hell Sirius! That hurt like shit! I didn't think you cared about her, mate!" James whined as he tried keeping the blood out of his mouth when he spoke. He didn't succeed.

"Well, I don't, but you shouldn't pull a stunt like that! She'll never talk to us again you-", I yelled, but it was cut short by James' cold and harsh laughter echoing through the room.

"I shouldn't have pulled a stunt like that? I'm not the one who bloody shagged her!" James yelled back in disbelief.

"We-"

"Don't even bother mate, don't even bother", James spat and turned away from me and walked towards the staircase, probably to get his nose fixed.

* * *

><p>For once I was happy that I had one-on-one classes. That meant that I wouldn't have to lay my eyes on one douche bag called Sirius Black. Sure, at first I had been mad at James, but to be honest it hadn't really been his fault. Well, perhaps it had been James' fault, but I found it easier to direct my anger at Sirius. It made it so much easier to banish dirty thoughts about him if I was angry. Also, James hadn't known, no wonder the poor bloke was shocked. I would probably have done the same thing. Of course, I would have been less loud because of my normal timidity but I would probably still have ended up revealing it to other people. No, James was not to blame. Sirius was.<p>

It was Sunday night, and I lay in my bed pondering. As far as I knew nobody had gone after me after my hurried exit from the Great Hall, and if anybody had, they hadn't found me, because I had shed my tears alone. I was actually quite glad that I had been alone. My face is not in the least charming when I cry, and I tend to get more upset if someone tries to calm or comfort me.

I rolled over on my side and wondered how people would react in the morning. Would there be finger pointing? Whispering? Lewd jokes? Sirius was probably out there telling all sorts of details from our nightly escapades.

I couldn't fall asleep. I didn't want the morning to come, because that would mean facing the world and having to deal with everything. It was so much easier not dealing with your problems. Why wasn't that an option?

"Shut up and sleep", Leanne mumbled from her bed as I rolled over on my other side and sighed loudly. It was getting late anyways. Perhaps I should try to get some sleep. I get overly emotional when I'm tired and that would definitely not help me when having to deal with humiliation.

I would have to ignore Sirius. Starting a fight with him would just be plain stupid, and would make people think that I actually care about him. And since I don't, I shouldn't mislead people into thinking that I do. Because I don't. I definitely don't. He's an idiot. And I'm not even going to spare him a single glance if he passes me in the hallway! It's decided then. I'm going to ignore Sirius Black for the rest of my life. Or at least the time I am at Hogwarts. I can't really ignore him if I'm not around him, which I am not going to be after Hogwarts.

'...My thoughts are not making any sense anymore. I should get some sleep', were my last thoughts before my eyes closed and my world went dark.

* * *

><p>I took a deep breath as I looked myself in the mirror. It was time for breakfast. Time for damnation. After one last look in the mirror, a sigh escaped my lips and I turned around and started walking towards the door to exit the dormitory. I kept my pace quick, fearing that I might suddenly turn into a huge coward and go hide under the covers of my bed instead of going down for breakfast. I needed to get out of the dormitory, and I needed to get out of there fast. The bed seemed terribly tempting, but I would not let Sirius Black have the satisfaction of me avoiding him. I would not avoid him, I would simply ignore him. Nothing more, nothing less. Ignoring is not the same as avoiding! Avoiding would be me going out of my way not to see him, while ignoring would just be me not looking at him if I did end up meeting him. To avoid a person you have to care, and I don't! I definitely don't care.<p>

"That smug bastard", I mumbled as I finally walked out of the door and down the staircase. As soon as I reached the common room, people's stares reached me. It was as if people were trying to stare at me without being too obvious about it. It didn't work though, as the entire common room was doing it. I lowered my eyes to the carpet and kept my eyes firmly on the ground as I walked towards the portrait hole. The entire common room was surprisingly quiet, but as I walked out of sight, I could hear the voices pick up again. They had been talking. About me. What a shocker.

I walked through the school with my eyes glued to the floor the entire time. As I had expected, every whisper and stare was directed at me, and I swear that I heard a cat call or two. This was absolutely terrible.

Just as I got to the Great Hall, the voice of the person I had sworn to ignore greeted me.

"Look Evans, we need to ta-", Sirius said, but cut himself off as I just walked right past him without giving him as much as a glance.

"Evans?" he called, but I kept on ignoring him and walked calmly to the Gryffindor table without looking back.

"EVANS!" he growled as he realized that the reason I wasn't answering him wasn't because I couldn't hear him. I was ignoring him, and it seems that Sirius Black is too much of a sissy to be able to handle being ignored. Oh poor him.

I casually looked at what the breakfast table had to offer and decided on some bacon and eggs. Sirius was fuming behind me, and already now, I found it hard to keep on ignoring him. Why must Sirius Black be such a persistent person?

"STOP IGNORING ME!" Sirius yelled and I could hear his foot stomp the ground like a spoiled child not getting what he wanted. I wasn't just about to give him what he wanted.

I kept my face neutral with much difficulty and tried eating in what I hoped was an acceptable pace. I wanted nothing more than to inhale my food and get out of there as fast as possible, but I needed to show people that I didn't care. My pride and ego came before my need to go into hiding.

I needed to be more collected than Sirius. Cool as a cucumber. So people would perhaps be able to see that it was just a drunken mistake! Even though I probably shouldn't shout too loud about the being drunk part. After all, we were all underage; therefore drinking is a big no-no. That's my new rule: don't drink alcohol. And if by any chance alcohol is consumed anyway, don't bang anyone. Yes. That sounds acceptable and relatively easy to live by.

I swallowed the last of my eggs, lifted myself off the bench and pushed myself past Sirius to get away as fast as possible. As I had walked out of the Great Hall, I allowed myself to look back, and found that he wasn't following me. Luckily. Maybe, just _maybe_ this wouldn't be as hard as first anticipated.

* * *

><p>"So?" James asked me as I sat down at the table, feeling quite ready to break something. That bitch had ignored me. Me! Sirius Black!<p>

"That bloody slag ignored me", I mumbled sourly and took a piece of toast from the plate in front of me.

"What did you expect?" Remus mumbled and put a piece of bacon in his mouth.

"That bloody girl to at least listen to me!" I cried out, crumbling the piece of toast in my hand in frustration.

"Mate, chill… You're ruining the food", James said and looked down at my hand with disgust. The toast had been buttered. Ew.

I looked down at my hand and dropped the piece of toast on my plate before wiping my hand in my robes, gaining myself a look of disgust from Remus. Damn goodie two shoes.

I got myself another piece of toast and bit into it, only to choke on it when a hand collided roughly with my back.

Coughing, I turned around and was met with the grinning face of Amos Diggory.

"What?" I asked while scowling at almost being choked in my own breakfast. It seemed that this day was not going to go well. At all.

"I heard you bonked the new girl, well done mate! Was she any good?" he asked boyishly, digging for gossip.

My face lit up at the question. Now was time for revenge. She was going to ignore me? Well, I was going to make it damn hard for her to do that. Nobody ignores Sirius Black and gets away with it!

A smirk found its way onto my face at the thought of sweet revenge.

"Sit down Diggory, this may take some time".

* * *

><p>I went through the classes with less difficulty than I had done at my first day of school, but getting used to using magic was still hard work. Much to my relief, I only bumped into Sirius one time, and luckily he didn't even seem to notice me. He was busy arguing with James over a thing I'm sure is ridiculously stupid. After all, he is pretty stupid. I think. He must be, after all, he's good looking... Not that <em>I <em>think he is handsome, it's just a mere observation. Yes, an observation! Of what I'm sure other girls would think! Yes, that's it.

But even though I only bumped into Sirius once, there was still the staring and whispering to deal with. It hadn't been so bad at breakfast, but it seems that the amount of whispering and pointing fingers increased as the hour passed. Oddly enough, I even had guys cat-calling me and asking me about hairy moles. Hairy moles? Really? Whatever floats their boats, I guess... Guys are weird. Another reason for me to join a nunnery.

I entered the Great Hall at dinner at 6.30 after having packed all of my things away. Apparently to make room for all 6 lessons of the day, the occasional breaks and meals, they eat dinner at 6.30 on school nights instead of 6 o'clock as they do in the weekends. I sat down quickly at the Gryffindor table, but noticed Leanne, Emmeline and Lily engaged in a very intense conversation further down the table. I got up from my seat and walked down to take a seat next to my roommates.

"'Ello guys, what are you talking about?" I asked as I sat down on the bench, and pulled a piece of meat onto my plate. As soon as they heard my voice, they became quiet, indicating just whom they had been talking about. Why must people be so obvious?

"Great... What now?" I groaned and left my plate alone for a moment to hide my eyes in my hands with my elbows resting on the table. Now even my own friends were gossiping about me.

"It's just... We heard rumors", Emmeline said, hesitantly.

"Rumors? About me?" I asked her, my voice soft and unsure. Of course the rumors were about me. Who else would there be rumors about? Okay, that was a bit self-centered, I admit.

"...Yes", Lily said just as Emmeline was about to answer. Emmeline looked at her gratefully and lowered her eyes to her food which she started pushing around on her plate.

"And?" I asked feeling my mouth go dry. The silence said more than I needed to know. Sirius had talked, and it had to be about something bad, or else Lily would not hesitate to answer me. She seems to get a kick out of my misery.

"Well, it's just... People have been saying an awful lot about your... well..." Lily said, coughing uncomfortably and awkwardly as she tried finding the right words to tell me.

"My what?" I whispered with a worried look on my face.

"Your body", Leanne blurted out, obviously not being able to keep it in anymore.

"My body? How?" I asked, the worried look on my face morphing into one of confusion. What did he have to say about my body? That I was fat? Everyone could see I had fat thighs, that wouldn't exactly be a secret, or something worth of being a rumor.

"I heard Diggory talking about your breasts being extremely saggy and something about you having a very... hairy... mole somewhere very private", Leanne continued.

"A HAIRY MOLE?" I shrieked, making a great amount of people at the Gryffindor table look at me, some in amusement, some in confusion, and some in disgust. I realized my mistake and quickly cleared my throat.

"A hairy mole?" I whispered again, and the three girls around me exchanged looks before hesitantly nodding in confirmation.

"I have no bloody hairy mole. Damn that brat Sirius Black", I muttered with a hint of disgust in my voice. How he could go and say something like that when it wasn't even close to being true was beyond my comprehension. He must have no brain at all if he thinks I'm going to let him humiliate me like that. He must have been raised by trolls or something to actually be that stupid.

The other girls kept quiet. The exchanged glances yet again and Leanne and Lily looked at Emmeline intensely. Leanne nodded her head not very subtly towards me in a gesture that clearly screamed 'SAY SOMETHING!' but I ignored their awkward attempts to get poor Emmeline to start a conversation. I didn't need to talk to someone, I needed to think, and I couldn't do that with people surrounding me.

"I lost my appetite" I mumbled to spare my roommates of the awkwardness, and quickly got up before leaving the Great Hall in a hurry.

I didn't notice another Gryffindor getting up and following me.

My pace was fast and steady as I walked towards the Gryffindor common room. I had extra lessons at 8 so I didn't have much time to ponder over my revenge. Or dream about it. If I knew myself well, and I did, I knew that I wouldn't have the guts to follow through with any kind of payback, and especially not when it involved Sirius Black. He made me nervous. And I am not good at focusing on what I am supposed to be focusing on when I am nervous.

I mumbled the password to the fat lady and entered the common room before quickly running past the few 6th years that were sitting in the chairs by the fire, up the stairs to my dormitory.

I closed the door behind me and went to my bed. I sat on the bed and took off my shoes but as I started pulling off my pumper, I heard the door to the dorm quickly open and then close. I pulled the jumper over my head turned around to put it in my trunk. I started unbuttoning my shirt and turned around to greet the girls. They hadn't needed to follow me up here. As I turned around, I was surprised to see that it was not the girls who had entered. It was none other than Sirius Black, with a broom in his hand and a bloody smile on his face.

"Bloody hell! What are you doing in here?" I shrieked as I quickly tried buttoning up my shirt to cover my chest from him.

"Nothing I haven't already seen love, nothing I haven't already seen", he stated cockily, purposely ignoring my question with a stupid grin on his face.

"Can't really ignore me now, can ya'?" he asked, looking positively ready to laugh at my misfortune. I swear he must be a sadist or something.

"Shut up", I mumbled and managed to button one of the damn buttons. They were small, and in my panic I hadn't managed to button any of them.

"Already taking off your clothes for me again, Evans?" he asked teasingly, setting his broom beside the door before taking a few steps closer to me.

"Do me a favor Sirius and stop being so damn cocky!" I said irritably while fingering the next button.

"Oh really? You didn't seem to mind my said 'cockiness' much Saturday night, or would you rather I used my hands? Or perhaps my mouth? Oh, wait, I did!" he said, with that damn smirk on his face.

Was he seriously trying to embarrass me? Well, he was going to have to try a lot harder than that!

"Jesus Christ, you insufferable dick!" I yelled at him letting go of the buttons on my shirt in annoyance. To my further agitation he just put on a fake sad face and patronizingly said:

"Don't insult him, you'll make him sad", while gesturing towards his pants.

"And why would you assume that I am talking to your penis?" I asked, while rolling my eyes. I can't believe I slept with that guy. He's obviously a childish idiot. Oh, and did I mention he's an arsehole? Yes? Well, good... Because he is.

"Well, I don't know. The two of you seemed to be kind of... oral, the last time you met", he replied, this time succeeding in getting me to blush as the image of the scene came to my mind. Okay, I take that back. It was fairly easy to make me embarrassed.

"Oh, grow up Sirius", I mumbled and focused on looking everywhere but at Sirius.

"What? It's not big enough for ya'? You sure as hell weren't complaining! Don't you remember? Or do you need a round two to freshen your memory?" he asked, making my red face even redder. Okay, so he was a jerk, but he was a hot jerk. And despite what I would like to think, I found it very hard to conceal my emotions around Sirius be it anger, embarrassment or happiness. He was rubbing off on me, and I didn't like it. That would mean that we were getting close, and after _the incident_ I wanted nothing more but just to ignore him and move on with my life. Not befriend him or, god forbid it, date him! He was a womanizing toe rag and exactly the kind of person I would avoid in any normal situation. Which reminds me, I should be ignoring him right now.

"Just... leave me alone, okay? And stop god damn spreading rumors about me!" I yelled at him, finally letting all of my frustrations out.

"You were ignoring me!" he cried childishly.

"Yeah? Well, it's because of you the entire school thinks I'm a complete slag!" I replied angrily.

"That wasn't me!" he yelled back, sounding deeply offended at my accusation.

"It was your fault! Why didn't you tell James?"

"Why should I?"

"Why shouldn't you?"

"YOU told him. It's your own fault!"

"Is not!"

"Is too!"

"IS NOT!"

"IS TOO!"

"SHUT UP!" I yelled loudly and a small silence settled in the room as Sirius took a deep breath. He was obviously pissed, and annoyingly stubborn as I. He took a step closer to me and lowered his head down to mine before looking deeply into my eyes.

"It's not my fault you're easy", he said through gritted teeth, daring me to challenge him.

I gasped in horror of his words and my eyes widened in shock. How could _he_ of all people call me easy?

As the words started making proper sense to me again, my eyes narrowed and I lifted my arm, pulled it back and with all of my might slapped him on the cheek. Hard. The sound of my hand hitting his skin echoed in the dormitory and as his cheek turned I could already clearly see a red handprint showing itself on his cheek.

"Get out", I whispered venomously and turned around to my bed, as I couldn't stand the sight of him.

I closed my eyes, and much to my relief I could hear his footsteps walking towards the door. The door opened and as it closed I threw myself on my bed and let the tears that I had been saving flow freely down over my cheeks.

"I hate guys", I mumbled through the strangled sobs coming from my throat, and I spent the rest of my time before my extra lesson that evening mourning the fact that going to a wizard school was definitely not going to be easy. Not with a bunch of teenagers with raging hormones running around the place.

'And I'm one of them.'

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><p><strong>I hope you enjoyed it, if so, let me know. If not, also let me know!<strong>


	8. And drama ensues

**Author's Note**

Yes, yes, I know. I am terrible. My computer didn't like water (I wonder why), and it broke down, along with my brain and all the ideas I had been storing in there. But luckily, my beta pushed me, and I started writing again once I got my stuff back on my new computer.

Check my profile for updates on chapters, that way you'll know when to expect the next one.

BUT, there was also another person who inspired me to finish this up already, and that person was karlaofallpeople. So, this chapter is dedicated for two people, Nemi Nightingale and karlaofallpeople. So, check out karla's Sirius/OC story, she has already got me hooked on it, and leave her lots of love!

Okay, so the beginning is a bit of a filler but then the drama sets in! I don't really like Evans in this chapter. She's too easily annoyed. But hey! It's my own fault for creating her like that!

Enjoy! (I hope I haven't lost every single reader I had D:)

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><p>The short time I had left before having to go to my extra lesson was spent trying to calm myself and make it less visible that I had been crying. The time went all too quickly and 10 minutes to 8 I found myself calmly walking out of the Gryffindor common room, towards professor McGonagall's office to discuss the extra lessons I would be having every day in the evening at 8 o'clock.<p>

As I got to McGonagall's office, I was 10 minutes late.

"I wish those horrid stairs would stop moving", I mumbled as I knocked on the door to the office. McGonagall would surely not be happy. But then again, in my short time here I had never seen her happy. McGonagall happy seemed as unrealistic as a blonde James Potter. But who knows, we might live to see it! The hilarity of both scenarios was enough to make me snort out a small chuckle as McGonagall reacted on my knocking on her door.

"Enter", a strong voice said, and I entered to see my uptight transfiguration professor sitting in a chair behind her desk, drumming her fingers impatiently on the table.

"I apologize for being late. I got a bit lost"

"Well perhaps next lesson we should work on transfiguring parchment into a map then? Or a watch perhaps Ms Denial?"

" 'm Sorry", I mumbled and diverted my gaze to the floor in shame. I was never late. Well, until now. Yet another thing Sirius is to blame for.

She raised a thin eyebrow at me and gestured for me to sit down on the chair on the other side of her desk. I looked around the cozy, very tartan plaid clad office and noticed as I looked out the window that the office had quite the generous view of the quidditch pitch. I observed what looked to be the quidditch cup standing proudly and majestically on the shelf above the fireplace and looked back to the desk to see papers, quills, ink, a tin of what I presumed would be sweets and other necessities littered around the table.

"Sit Ms Denial, I believe we have a lot to discuss", Professor McGonagall said, catching my attention and opening a drawer beside her. I sat down and looked with interest as she pulled out a variety of pamphlets all in the same design but with different colors.

Putting them down on the table, she pushed them towards me, gesturing me to have a closer look.

The various pamphlets all sported bold, black writing, and looked very like the pamphlets my career consultant in high school had pushed me into reading.

As I looked down on the black writing and the moving illustrations, I found that that was exactly what these pamphlets were about. Career choice. And I've not even gone to wizard school for a week yet. I don't even know what an... Auror? What kind of word is that? Auror, peculiar word that is. And I have no clue what it means, other than it being some sort of occupation.

"I am aware that talking about career choice may seem a bit rushed to you, but I am not asking for a final answer now. I will simply ask you to read these pamphlets in order to form some sort of idea of what you want to do once you finish school here at Hogwarts. We have some electives that I need you to consider, as the electives will start very soon, and I hope to put you in a regular class for this".

I cheered inside at the thought of being in a regular class, having regular classmates and not having the teacher focus on me every single second of the one and a half hours the classes lasted. Having to be completely concentrated basically a whole day, with no one but yourself to answer the questions the professor asks you, is mentally draining. I wouldn't be surprised if you found my brain lying around somewhere on one of the moving staircases. I felt like I had lost it somewhere on the way to the office, with the way I was able to absorb none of the information the strict professor was presenting me with. She might as well have been speaking to a solid stone gargoyle. Except for the fact that I was not quite as heavy as said gargoyles, and I am pretty sure that the gargoyles here at Hogwarts would understand quite a bit more of what McGonagall was saying than I would.

Professor McGonagall continued:

"The electives are Astronomy, Arithmancy, Ancient Runes, Divination and Muggle Studies. Muggle Studies are mandatory to every wizard or witch that comes to Hogwarts, but is made into an elective to anyone who comes from a muggle home and is not interested in taking the full course. Many muggleborns take this as it is an easily achievable O.W.L for the students who are familiar with the muggle society. Now I must ask you, are you familiar with the rest of the electives?"

I ran the words through my head and found that I only recognized Astronomy and of course, Muggle Studies, so I shook my head 'no', in order to get an explanation. The others were completely foreign to me.

"I believe muggles are familiar with Astronomy?" McGonagall questioned.

"Well, I am assuming it is the same thing here as it is in the muggle world"

"Yes, so no introduction is needed, next, there is Arithmancy. This elective is concerned with the magical properties of numbers. There is Ancient Runes where you will study and gain theoretical knowledge of reading and interpreting ancient rune scripts. There is Divination which, if I may voice my opinion, is one of the most imprecise branches of magic. It is the art of predicting the future and the various methods includes but is not limited to astrology, tea leaves, crystal balls, cartomancy and dream interpretations. Muggle Studies is, as the name might suggest, a study of muggles, muggle society and history. Before choosing one or more electives, I recommend you take a look at the career pamphlets, as you might need one of the electives to be able to pursue a specific career".

I nodded to show I had somewhat understood her speech, even though I felt a bit overloaded with information and could not for the life of me remember even half of the things McGonagall had just said. I looked down at the pieces of paper in front of me. The titles were almost all the same.

'_So you want to be an auror'_

'_So you want to be a healer'_

'_So you want to be a teacher'_

'_So you want to work in the Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes'_

And so it went on.

'So they basically have a folder for each and every department in the Ministry, quite a waste of paper', I thought, though slightly impressed with the amount of possibilities you had as a wizard. But after all, the wizard world is just as organized as the muggle world, if not more organized having to deal with the constant threat of being noticed by muggles, so of course there is bound to be many different occupations.

I decided to read them once I came back to the common room, if it wasn't too noisy in there and a certain person wasn't present. I would simply not be able to focus if Sirius Black was in the other end of the room glaring at me with his little posse of pranksters, which seemed quite likely the more I thought about it.

I stacked the pamphlets neatly and looked up at McGonagall who was waiting patiently until I was done examining the papers.

"Were there other things you wished to discuss with me, professor?" I asked, straightening my back again after having taken a small peek at some of the headlines of the pamphlets.

"Yes, Ms Denial in these extra lessons you will be tutored by a fellow student as no professor is currently available for evening lessons. Your tutor will help you through home work and the written assignments that you will eventually receive. Of course I count on you showing up on time at these tutoring sessions" - McGonagall sent a strict look over her glasses at me - "which will take place every night at 8 o'clock in the library. Of course, you will arrange with your tutor if the session is to be rescheduled, and if you find it very necessary, a session **can** be cancelled. Be sure that I will find out if these meetings are cancelled too often, and I will see to it myself that there will be no more canceling or rescheduling. It might seem harsh, but this is necessary for your education, Ms Denial, as you are 4 years behind on your studies, and I hope you understand that a lot of effort will be required if you are to pass your O.W.L's this year. Now, unless you have any questions, I believe we have no more to discuss", McGonagall finished, and took off her glasses, sending a scrutinizing stare my way.

"Well, this is all an awful lot to take in, but so far I have no questions", I said uncertainly. This was a lot of information to take in at one time and I was pretty sure that once my beneath-gargoyle-level-brain would allow me to process everything professor McGonagall had told me, I would be bursting with questions.

Still, I pushed myself from the chair to get back to the common room.

"Thank you professor McGonagall", I said on my way out of the office, and just as I was about to close the door behind me I stuck my head in the door again. "Just one thing", I said, a question popping up in my mind.

"Yes?"

"When will you need my answer concerning the electives?"

McGonagall looked thoughtful for some seconds before she answered me.

"The electives will begin next week, so in a few days if possible. Saturday at the latest, as I need to work out your final schedule".

"Thank you," were my last words before I closed the door behind me and started on my way back to the common room.

Luckily, as I entered the common room, it was packed with students, which meant I would most likely be able to slip through the crowd undetected by a certain group of people that I would rather not come across right now. Hopefully, because if not, things would be awkward. Very awkward.

I managed to push my way between two 4th years and surprisingly got halfway through the crowd unscathed, before my name was called from the chairs by the fireplace. Just my luck.

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><p>The door slammed as I forcefully banged the door back in the doorframe, making Remus drop his book on the bed in shock and Peter knock his head into the bottom of his bed, as he was crouched beside it, looking for a pair of socks that had made their way under the bed.<p>

"You know, if you keep this up that door is going to be beyond _reparo_", Remus noted, grabbing his book, and trying to find the page he was previously on.

"She hit me, she bloody hit me", I mumbled, ignoring Remus' smart-ass comment, while putting his hand up to his cheek, which was now glowing red.

"Who hit who?" James asked, coming out of the bathroom with a towel around his waist, obviously having just taken a shower.

"Denial hit me", I mumbled, feeling both humiliated and angry with the situation. And perhaps a bit remorseful.

"What did you do?" James asked, confusion showing on his face as he walked towards the trunk at the end of his bed to get some clothes.

Yet again I mumbled, but this time quite incoherently, not wanting to admit what I had said in my moment of rage.

"What's that?" Remus asked, scrunching his face up in concentration of trying to hear and understand what in the bloody hell I had just said.

"I called her easy", I mumbled again, this time a bit louder and more coherent.

The silence in the room was deafening.

"Well done mate", Remus said sarcastically "you woke the sleeping dragon".

"Shut it", I said "Merlin, she hits hard", I added quietly after having sprawled myself over my bed and buried my head in the pillow. My comment succeeded in getting a small grunt of laughter from Peter, and unbeknownst to me, in putting a very bad idea into James' head.

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><p>"Yes, James?" I asked, sighing at the thought of talking to <em>his<em> minions, and not even bothering to turn around, as he came up to me.

"Well, I was thinking", James continued, but stopped himself, sounding very agitated "look, can you turn around for just a second here? I need to ask you something".

With one last sigh, I turned around, and looked at James with a disinterested look on my face. I was not in the mood for chitchat. As I looked over James' shoulder, my mood grew even worse, as I saw Sirius coming towards us, looking quite confused at the fact that James was speaking to me. Oh right, James is supposed to be on his side. Too bad, mate.

"What? Make it quick, will you?" I told him, not in the mood to talk to Sirius right now. Or ever.

Ugh, too late.

"I want you to try out for the Quidditch team", James blurted out excitedly. He took me completely by surprise by his outburst and a look of disbelief came across my face. The next 10 seconds were spent awkwardly with me trying to take in what James said, as he impatiently waited for an answer, and Sirius stared at James like he had just announced he was switching houses and was going to be bunking with Slytherin the next couple of years.

"You're bloody kidding me, right?" I ended up exclaiming, banishing the awkward silence the rather unexpected question had brought with it.

"Yes, please tell me you are", Sirius said, looking at James with a desperate look in his eyes. He was probably scared of even being close to me right now. But why hadn't James asked Sirius about this? Of course, James _was_ the captain, but it just seemed unnatural for him to ask me this without considering Sirius' feelings about it. After all, he was a beater on the team.

"B-but.. w-why?" I asked, in confusion stumbling over my words, my shock momentarily forgotten. Were they planning on pranking me? My mind searched for every prank that could possibly involve me on a broom. There were a lot.

"Well, I don't know whether you have tried flying yet, but looking at your figure, you would be perfect for it", James rambled. Sirius looked like he knew what was coming and tried to stop James from saying more. Bad sign.

"And why is that?" I asked. How could a certain body shape be good for flying?

"You have a bit of a wide bottom and a lot of thigh muscle, which would make it easier for you to hold onto your broom! No damn bludger would be able to knock you off your broom! Sirius has told me you have strong thighs! Oh, and you would be the perfect chaser, as you have loads of arm muscle too! I saw the handprint on Sirius' cheek, you hit hard! Perhaps a beater then?" he finished off, not noticing my face getting more and more red.

"Are you out of your bleedin' mind?" I asked James in disbelief. A look of confusion spread on said male's face. Sirius groaned, this apparently being what he had been trying to avoid. I shot a glare at Sirius for mentioning my 'strong thighs' and put my focus back on James.

"You just called me fat in every imaginable way, and you actually expect me to try out for the Quidditch team? You must be absolutely barmy!", I burst out, lifting my nose in the air, let out a small, insulted "Hmph" and walked away, going to the girls' dormitory, leaving a gaping James Potter and a head shaking Sirius Black.

"Well done, mate", he told James sarcastically, rolling his eyes and walking from the common room up to the boys' dormitory.

"Belt up", James muttered making a face at Sirius' retreating back, before walking back to his seat by the fireplace.

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><p>That night I had trouble sleeping. All of the drama was catching up to me, and I found myself lying awake, trying to push all of the thoughts of what had happened in the last few days away. It was early in the morning before I found myself falling asleep, and I woke up with a headache almost matching the one I had had a few days earlier after my night of heavy drinking. This time, it was induced by a lack of sleep. At least that meant that I hadn't slept with someone. Unless I sleep-walk. And sleep-shag. Which I find very unlikely.<p>

My mind, slow as it was clouded by my lack of sleep, caused me to walk into the bedpost at the end of my bed, knocking a small bump on my forehead.

"Bloody... Stupid..." I mumbled, muttering random curses as I walked into the bathroom, surprisingly the only girl up in the room.

I took a quick shower, dressed and was out of the room within 20 minutes, desperately needing to get something to eat and perhaps a cup of tea before starting classes. My lack of concentration today would surely cause more than just a couple of accidents, hopefully getting something to eat would be able to prevent at least one of these accidents.

'Who am I kidding? Like food is going to help me'.

I trudged into the great hall while yawning and went over to the Gryffindor table. Much to my surprise, the guys from our year were up and already joking and having fun, throwing toast at each other.

I looked up and down the table, and much to my dismay, I found that I didn't know anyone else at the table, other than the toast-yielding trolls a few seats down. Sighing, I sat down next to James with a yawn, drawing the attention of the boys, who briefly paused their toast battle to stare at me. Puzzlement was evident on both James' and Sirius' face, while both Peter and Remus looked indifferent. Oh how nice, Peter had gotten over his obsession over me. Thank god. I wouldn't be able to stand him staring at me much more, like he had done on the train to Hogwarts. It had been quite unnerving.

Sirius quickly got over his shock, but smiled brightly, taking this as a sign that I was talking to him again. He didn't seem to be mad over the fact that I had slapped him. And to be honest, once I had cooled down, my anger towards the boy had decreased greatly. We were both angry and had said and done things we didn't mean. Well, I hope for his sake that he didn't mean what he said. He's still a complete and utter troll though, no changes there.

"Y'know, it's about time you decided to start talking to me again" Sirius stated smugly, obviously thinking I was sitting with them because of him.

"After what you said, it's a wonder I'm even sitting here", I said, narrowing my eyes at him, getting irritated with his attitude in my sleep-deprived state.

This caused the table to quiet down, before Sirius decided to surprise us all.

"I call it her 'furry little problem'", Sirius stated randomly yet proudly, making everyone within a 3 meters radius snort into their pumpkin juice. We all knew he was referring to my birthmark.

"You call it WHAT?" I shrieked, suddenly feeling awake, and succeeding in knocking the pumpkin juice out of James' hand as I turned to face Sirius, gesturing somewhat wildly with my arms in disbelief.

Out of the boys, James was first to recover as he had pumpkin juice down his entire front. He did not really seem to care but instead hurriedly, as if he was afraid someone would state it before him, yelled out:

"Like Mooney!"

Confused, I looked over at a very tense looking Remus and then back to James for an explanation.

"What furry problem does Remus have?" I asked and looked from boy to boy, hoping to be able to coax an explanation from the guys.

James suddenly got uncharacteristically quiet, but exchanged looks with Sirius who got that spark in his eyes boys usually get when they are up to no good.

"You mean you don't know?" Sirius asked, getting ready to tell a story, and as I shook my head no, he continued: "Y'see, Remus' mum is pretty much sick all the time, and poor ol' Remus here feels so bad about it that he visits her about once a month to make sure she's alright an' all", he continued in a light tone, silently (and seemingly innocently) suggesting there was more to the story.

"What does that have to do with Remus having a furry little problem?"

"I am glad you asked! Well, it seems that her back…" Sirius trailed off, making me raise an eyebrow at him.

"Her back..?" I questioned.

"It seems that it is very…" Sirius trailed off again, deliberately agitating me.

"Yes?" I asked, wishing he would just get to the point.

"Furry"

At Sirius' last word James, Peter and Sirius himself roared with laughter, leaving Remus and me to stare at them as if they were ready for the loony bin.

"I don't get it" I mumbled, and looked down on my food. I stuck out my bottom lip a bit in a pout and pushed the food around on my plate, causing nothing but an increase in laughter from the three boys.

"You guys are terrible", Remus mumbled and went back to reading the book he had brought to the breakfast table.

"Shut up", I mumbled weakly at the boys who were still roaring with laughter, not succeeding in shutting them up.

"Wonderful, more people to laugh at my ignorance", I said suddenly feeling very uncomfortable with Sirius laughing at me. Pushing myself off the bench, taking two pieces of toast in my hand I left the boys to make fun of me, or whatever they were doing.

If they were to ridicule me, then I would be no part of it. It is times like these I wish I was more patient and tolerant (even though I had not slept much and was thereby easier to provoke) as I seem to be making a habit of leaving the table during meals. Perhaps I would lose some of the weight on my thighs if I kept this up. Fat chance. See what I did there? Fat chance, as in-... Never mind. My brain doesn't work properly in the morning.

"Evans", I heard a voice call from behind me.

Upon hearing his voice, I closed my eyes and took a deep breath to rid myself of the rage building up inside of me. It is truly amazing how one arsehat is able to get a person this riled up. Well, he _had_ just laughed at me and made fun of me in front of the entire Gryffindor table. Not that many people were up and about right now, but that is beside the point. I don't take embarrassment well, you might have noticed.

"What do you want Sirius? Have you not embarrassed me enough? Or have you come to tell me that there is toilet paper stuck to my shoe or something?" I asked as I turned around to face Sirius.

"Why are you so mad? We were only messing about. I thought you had calmed down enough to actually talk to me".

This did nothing but fuel the fire inside of me that I had in vain tried to extinguish only seconds before, not only causing my voice to raise an octave, but causing it to come out much more desperate and loud than I had planned and anticipated.

"I have not calmed down! You constantly make fun of me! Am I supposed to just tolerate all the lies you tell about me?" I yelled, completely tossing my self-control out the window and gaining the attention of a couple of students around in the corridor.

"Are we back at this again? You were ignoring me!" Sirius whined, obviously hoping for me to take pity on his fine little arse and forget and forgive the whole thing. The fact that he even thought that it was going to be that easy is despicable.

"That does not make it okay for you to run about and yell about me having hairy moles, especially when I have no such thing!" I replied, in a slightly lower voice, having regained a bit of my composure at noticing the fact that we were in the middle of a hallway with students on their way to breakfast.

Sirius, seeing an opening to make a joke, instantly recovered from his whining and raised a brow, indicating an inappropriate comment was on the way. This kid just never learns, does he?

"Well, if you'd like, I reckon we _could_ describe it as a particularly beasty birthmark if you'd prefer that".

I gaped at him, now also tossing the rest of my composure out of the window.

"No? Do you actually prefer furry little problem then? No, wait, what about Merlin's little miracle?" he continued, bringing him closer and closer to acquiring himself a black eye.

"What? NO! Did we not _just_ decide that 'furry little problem' should not be said in public? And what does that even mean?" I shrieked in horror of the terrible names he was coming up with. Was he actually going to say those names in public? He should be preparing himself for a nice crucifixion if he was planning on that! Well, not that I had the guts to publicly humiliate Sirius, which crucifixion would involve, so I need to come up with something else that would make him suffer.

"No, _you_ decided it should not be said in public. And... Well, it would have to be Merlin's work to be that beasty, now wouldn't it?" he explained, winking at me in the process.

"And by the way, I don't see you denying the comment I made about your breasts being extremely saggy. You haven't gone completely bonkers on me either… Have you gone soft on me Denial?"

"I have not gone soft! I just figured... Y'know..." I mumbled, calming down as I tried not to let my embarrassment show.

"What? That you _do_ have extraordinarily saggy breasts?"

"They are not extraordinarily saggy! Stop saying that!"

"Oh, so that's why you didn't say anything. You think I am right!"

"NO! You told me you liked my breast the way they are!"

"I do, even though they sag!"

"There is nothing wrong with a bit of natural sag, okay?"

"Ah, I love making you mad. You say the oddest things", Sirius said, his boyish grin practically stretching all the way to his ears. Okay, that's it. He's in for it now.

I took a few steps towards him, my shoes loud on the stone floor. Sirius cocked an eyebrow at me as I strode confidently towards him. Whether it was from the confidence in my steps that was rarely seen, of it was from the anger visible on my face, I do not know. All I know, is he was too surprised to move out of the way when I pulled my fist back and rammed it straight into his right eye.

"BLOODY HELL EVANS!" he cried as he cradled his eye with his hands.

Shocked by my own actions, and surprised by the instant pain in my hand from the hit, I stared at him with wide eyes. I had never hit anyone before. Ever (not counting slaps, of course). Only inanimate things. And though one could argue that Sirius is not the fastest broom in the shed, he is not inanimate. And calling him that would be unfair. Just as it was unfair that I just put my fist in his face. Oh Merlin.

"Merlin! I'm sorry Sirius! I have no idea where that came from! Are you okay?" I inquired desperately, guilt over what I had done setting in. After all, he had just been teasing me.

"Just back off Evans" he grumbled, sending a heated glare my way with his left and non-damaged eye before walking hurriedly towards the common room.

"Oh god, not again".

With a sigh I prepared myself for the emotional roller coaster that would without a doubt ensue.

This was turning out to be a very eventful first week in a new school.


	9. Falling

**Author's Note**

Re-uploaded after being beta'd.

Thank you to Karla for inspiring me.

I need a new beta, so please do message me! Enjoy!

* * *

><p>The rest of the week passed rather quickly, as Sirius ignored me and I in return ignored him. If he couldn't accept my apology, then I wouldn't grovel at his feet to get him to talk to me. I had ignored him the last couple of days, I could easily go on. I continued talking to James and the rest of the group when Sirius was not present, and much to my surprise I didn't only find a good friend in Remus and James, but also a nice acquaintance in Peter. I am ashamed to say that I was surprised with the depth of his thoughts and opinions, making clear to me just why he was in their group. He was much more than the simple fanboy that stuck to the popular blokes like glue. He had terrific (and sometimes cringe-worthy) ideas for pranking the Slytherins, all much more complex than I would have thought him able to come up with.<p>

Time flew by quickly as I was busy with my catch up classes, tutoring sessions and the extreme amount of homework I was assigned, making it even easier to ignore Sirius, as I barely had time to spare him a single thought. It was not before Friday something out of the ordinary happened.

* * *

><p>"Shannon, do you have time to meet up with me earlier tonight? I have a herbology essay that I desperately need help with, and I don't think I can get it done this weekend without my brain turning into complete mash if we don't get a head start on it before 8 o'clock tonight", I asked, or rather, begged Shannon, the fourth year who was currently tutoring me. Not only was she a year younger than me, she was also so bloody smart that she was at the level of a fifth year student. So she was younger <em>and<em> smarter than me, which really did _wonders_ for my self confidence. But she _is _after all a Ravenclaw, so it was really no wonder.

"Evans, you know I have wizard's chess right after dinner", Shannon reminded me, sounding irritated and obviously not enjoying spending all of her time helping me with my homework, despite of the fact that she wants to be a teacher when she has graduated from Hogwarts. I must really be quite the obnoxious student then, if she can't handle me. Well, it's mostly when it comes to Herbology I'm clueless, but that seems to be enough to agitate her.

"You are the current Ravenclaw Wizard's Chess Champion, what does it matter if you miss one single hour of wizard's chess?"

"Just because you are completely devoid of ambition does not mean I have to be. I am hoping for the title of Hogwarts' Wizard's Chess Champion", Shannon said in a dreamy voice, but quickly snapping out of it to scold me. "But as a champion, I cannot afford skipping my duties", she pointed out, giving me a look that was far more stern than any look my own mother had ever given me.

"I am not devoid of ambition. That's why I'm asking you to help me, so I can actually get this right", I countered, but it was of no use. As I could see Shannon was not about to give in, I gave up trying to convince her with logic and turned to a method rarely used by me. Begging.

"Come on Shannon, pleeeeeeease. I really need this, you of all people should know that"

Apparently, hearing a fifth year practically begging on her hands and knees had some kind of effect on the petite fourth year, as she gave up refusing me and with a sigh told me to be ready in the library right after dinner.

Happy that I had finally convinced her, I hugged her, thanked her, and was on my merry way to Care of Magical Creatures.

My steps echoed on the hard stone floor as I walked while humming a random tune. It was a magnificent day. I had not had any trouble from Sirius in days now, and I could not have been more delighted. The beginning of this school year had, after all, brought more drama with it than I had ever experienced in a whole lifetime previous to coming to Hogwarts, and Sirius definitely had something to do with that.

But other than not having been forced into awkward conversations with Sirius yet, the day was already turning out to be great. Shannon had not been so easy to manipulate the last couple of days, but today I had quite easily managed to convince her to help me.

Despite McGonagall's serious words about her having to help me out with homework and essays, Shannon seemed oddly reluctant to do so. I guess I could have gotten another tutor if I had just told McGonagall about Shannon's reluctance, but the girl is absolutely brilliant, so I just learned to deal with her quirks. Besides, the whole ordeal would probably make Shannon hate me, and the amount of actual friends I have at Hogwarts can be counted on one hand. Alice, Remus and James. I'm not really sure I could call my other roommates my friends after the trick they pulled by dressing me up as a slag and forcing me to go to that party. Even though the outcome was entirely my own fault, it was so much easier blaming other people. Why I am in Gryffindor is truly a wonder. My quirkiness should have landed me in Ravenclaw. I'm way too bloody cowardly to be in Gryffindor, look, I can't even manage to tell McGonagall that my tutor is disinterested with my education.

Well, anyways I guess there is no need to insult more people and make more enemies than I already have. 'Ginger' would have a field day, and we can't have that now, can we? But if I were to bring my friend count over the three I have already got, that would mean I would have to start taking responsibility for all of my own stupid actions, and that is just about as terrifying as facing Sirius Black, so it will have to wait until my cowardly arse is ready for it. So, no more enemies and no more friends for now. But before I get my cowardly arse ready for _that_, I had just one thing I needed to work up the courage for. My flying lesson.

The weather was lovely which contributed to the fact that I was in a fantastically merry mood this Friday. Oh, and did I mention it was Friday? I think I did, but that is beside the point. Friday, oh Friday. And it was no ordinary Friday either! This would be the day I would get to fly on a broom for the first time! And I had no idea whether I should be terrified or excited. So I opted for the golden middle way. Terrifyingly excited. I'm not quite sure that's a mix, but who cares really?

My merry mood lasted all the way out the door until I bumped into none other than James Potter. Well, at least he didn't have Sirius with him, which was a rare occurrence. Good mood restored. Today really _was_ turning out to be a great day.

"Hello there James", I said and, smiling brightly at him, stepped past him to continue on my merry way to Care of Magical Creatures. He looked down at me, with a confused look on his face, having not quite registered what had just happened, but grabbed my arm just before I managed to pass him

"Easy there sunshine", he said as I looked up at him and yet again flashed him a radiant smile.

"Yes James?" I asked, wanting him to get to the point so I could keep on enjoying the marvelous Friday.

"What are _you_ so happy about?" James asked, a smile creeping onto his lips, my happiness obviously being contagious.

"It's Friday", I stated, and grinned yet again, not being able to contain myself.

"What's so special about it?" he asked, suspiciously adding, "are you on something?"

"No, silly!" I giggled and stepped past him. "Y'know I have to get to class, so if you have something to say, walk with me".

As I started walking, James quickly followed, throwing an arm over my shoulder.

"Did anything exciting happen then? Or is anything exciting happening soon?" I just smiled innocently at him.

"You've got to give me something to work with here Evans", James stated as I didn't provide an answer, really wanting to find out why I was so bloody happy.

"Well, if you must know: The wind conditions seem perfect for what I'm doing today", I hinted.

James immediately stopped walking, slipping his arm off my shoulder.

"You're flying?" he guessed, looking like he was unsure whether he should be excited or not. Then we were two who were unsure about that.

"Sherlock Holmes would be proud of your deductive skills, James"

"Sherlock who?"

"Muggle reference".

"Right".

"So, when are you flying?" James asked me, stepping up beside me to yet again put his arm over my shoulder. I looked up at him, contemplating if I should tell him or not. Anyone who knows James knows he's a complete maniac when it comes to anything that has got to do with flying and Quidditch.

"I'm not quite sure I should tell you", I admitted, not really needing James to show up and correct all of the mistakes I would surely be making.

"Blimey! You hurt me, Evans! Have you no faith in a fellow peer?" James put a hand over his heart, feigning absolute heartbreak.

"James-", I started, but was rudely interrupted.

"So, when are we heading for the pitch?" he asked, re-phrasing his question, yet receiving nothing but a slight glare from me. "Right... Not now, since you would hardly have asked me to walk with you if you were going to the Quidditch pitch and were trying to avoid having me there. Class after this, then?" Another glare was sent his way. "No? This afternoon then? Yes, that must be it!" he exclaimed excitedly as I groaned. And here I was expecting to have a pleasant Friday.

I stopped, forgetting everything about getting to class on time, and pulled James' arm to get him to stop next to me.

"Let me make something plain for you. It is irrelevant when I am flying, because _you_ will not be going", I pointed out, patted his shoulder, flashed him a smile, and turned around to walk away.

"Catch you later", I called merrily back to him.

"Oh I will catch you later!" he yelled back "On a broom stick!"

"Yeah, yeah. Put a sock in it, you prat", I yelled back jokingly over my shoulder and continued on to Care of Magical Creatures, unexpectedly looking rather forward to my flying lesson.

* * *

><p>It was lunch and we were in the dormitory. I had put off asking Sirius to cover for me for the first two periods, not really wanting to confront him. His temper had been that of a PMS'ing girl for the last week, and even though we all knew the cause of this horrid temper, Sirius kept denying it. But time was up and I had to ask him unless I fancied a couple of detentions, and Merlin knows I've gotten a couple already.<p>

"You are such a bloody traitor", Sirius mumbled after I had explained my situation, making me groan. I knew I shouldn't have told him. But it was quite difficult not to, since I would be skipping class and the only one I could get to lie for me (convincingly) was Sirius. That, or he would come up with some grand scheme that would confuse the teachers. Then maybe I would be able to slip out unnoticed.

"So I can't be friends with her without being a traitor?" I asked, already dreading the outcome of this conversation. Sirius could be terribly stubborn when faced with a person like Evans Denial: just as stubborn and obnoxious as himself.

"NO!" he yelled back, shooting a frustrated look my way. He took a deep breath and started pacing the room, obviously trying to get his anger out by walking instead of hitting something. Or someone. And since I was the only person in his vicinity, I didn't stop him.

"Relax Sirius, you know I've been wanting to see how she does on a broom stick."

"Yeah, but it doesn't mean you have to make friends with her."

"Well excuse me if I happen to enjoy her company. Is there anything else the Lordship wants? Perhaps you want me to take a dive in the Black Lake and visit the Merpeople? That would be a rather lovel-" I said, my voice cold and sarcastic until I was rudely interrupted by Sirius.

"Put a sock in it, James".

Why do people keep saying that?

The silence stretched in the room between us, only the sound of Sirius' pacing echoing in the room.

"You know you're my best mate, Sirius. That's not going to change just because I talk to Evans".

He stopped pacing and turned around to look at me, his eyes less harsh than before. Good, he had calmed down. A bit.

"I know that, you prat. I just don't like her. She'll probably turn you against me or something!" Sirius argued, throwing his hands in the air.

"Easy on the conspiracy theories. You know she wouldn't do that. And even if she tried, which she won't" I pointed out "it wouldn't work".

"I know that", Sirius mumbled, sounding quite put out by the fact that he had, of course, nothing to worry about.

"Good. Now, do you have an idea that will get me out of History of Magic?"

Sirius scoffed at the question.

"James, it's Binns we're talking about. He doesn't even remember your name. Even if I weren't going to come up with a completely brilliant plan, which I am going to, Binns wouldn't even notice you were missing", Sirius pointed out, making me realize that perhaps it hadn't been completely necessary to tell Sirius about Evans. Well, it would have been eventually if I planned on staying friends with her, but the crisis at the moment could have been averted.

At least that is one thing less to worry about.

"Right. It's Binns" I mumbled, chewing my lip absentmindedly. "So, are you ready to do this?"

Sirius grinned at me, getting that spark in his eyes again for the first time in days.

"Let's go!"

* * *

><p>The Quidditch field was empty when I got there. A broom had been brought out of the shed, but the stretch of the Quidditch field where Madam Hooch had decided I would learn to fly, was empty. Normally, the Quidditch field was specifically for Quidditch, but as it was located further away from the school than the regular training grounds, Madam Hooch had decided this would be the place I would be on a broom for the first time. She told me it was to spare me the embarrassment of anyone seeing me fall and crash. Lovely woman. Knows how to bring a girl's self esteem right out of the skies.<p>

I coughed awkwardly, looking around nervously while biting my lip. Surely she was supposed to be here now. Or was I early? Late? No. Well, perhaps early then. After having been late to going to McGonagall's office I had been overcompensating the last week by showing up early for everything. Not that that would make anything better, but it soothed my nerves knowing I would not be scolded or miss out on anything.

The next minutes passed with me shuffling around awkwardly, trying to figure out what to do with myself as I waited for the Madam Hooch to show up. I looked around the Quidditch pitch curiously, noting the height of the hoops in each end of the pitch.

"Bloody hell", I mumbled, realizing that I would definitely break a bone or two if I were to fall from that height. Hell, 'a few bones' is probably the understatement of the year, so let me rephrase that. I would surely be nothing but a bloody puddle of goo if I were to fall from that height and land on the field.

"Beautiful isn't it?" a voice spoke from right beside me, making me blink in surprise and very quickly turn my head to the side to observe the intruder of my personal space.

"James!" I whined, putting a hand over my heart to calm the erratic beating James' sudden appearance had caused.

"What?" he asked, looking down at me with that innocent confusion that is so typically James.

"Don't do that!" I told him, my voice still slightly higher than normally from the shock.

"Do what?" James asked, again with that innocent confusion.

I swear, sometimes he can be a bloody kid!

"Appearing like that without... Without even! Even... Warning me!" I stumbled over my words, not really knowing what to say.

"I didn't 'appear'. I walked here. It's not entirely my fault you get frightened when you're not paying attention with your nose all in the sky like that", he pointed out, nodding towards the hoops high in the air.

Taking a deep breath to steady my heartbeat, I ignored James' comment and looked up towards the hoops again, this time noticing the beauty of the scene that James was talking about. The slight breeze in the trees, the sun shining on a cloudless blue sky, the eerie silence of the Quidditch pitch. For once staying quiet, James stood next to me, just enjoying the nice day.

The moment was cut short much too early for my liking as Madam Hooch appeared on the pitch, her stride quick and determined.

"Ms Denial", she greeted doing a double take when she saw James there.

"Madam Hooch", I greeted back, but she completely ignored me, instead fixing her gaze on James. With a look that was something in between puzzlement and suspiciousness fixed on him, James squirmed slightly, not liking the sudden attention from the strict flying instructor.

"And just what do you think you are doing here, Mr Potter? Don't you have classes to go to?" she finally asked, breaking the awkward silence that had been creeping up on us.

"Just came to support a friend, Madam Hooch", James answered, now obviously nervous that she would hand him over to McGonagall or something for skipping. But then again, since she couldn't prove that he was skipping class without having to leave the Quidditch pitch and thereby abandoning her class with me, she would probably let him off the hook.

And she did. Begrudgingly.

Frowning, she looked towards me, seeing if I was okay with him being there. I looked over at James who shot me a pleading look, begging me to let him watch. Seems like this is the day for persuasion through begging, because I could not get myself to say no to him. But then again, I cannot seem to say no to handsome guys no matter the favor.

My defenses against cute boys need a serious upgrade. Or perhaps just a Sirius upgrade. I can live with indulging every other good-looking bloke but him.

Preparing myself for humiliation and saying goodbye to what was just about a perfect day, I nodded and turned to walk towards the broom laid out, leaving James for Hooch to deal with.

Shooing him out to the side of the pitch, Madam Hooch returned, taking me into the center of the pitch.

"Now, put your broomstick down and step onto the left side of it".

I looked at Madam Hooch, puzzled.

"Excuse me for asking, but why am I putting the broom down if I am going to learn how to fly on it?" I asked, not wanting to seem stupid, but desperately wanting to get on the broom so we could get this over with and my complete embarrassment and humiliation could be over as soon as possible.

Furrowing her brows she looked at me, obviously tired of dealing with complete novices when it came to flying. Well, then she shouldn't have become a flying instructor.

"You need to learn how to summon it first", she explained, looking at me as if I had the brain of a troll. If she needed a troll I would gladly go and fetch Sirius for her. Well, not exactly gladly, because that would mean I would have to talk to him and thereby ruin a perfectly nice day, which would be such a darned shame.

And I really need to stop thinking about Sirius every two minutes.

"Right", I mumbled and did as Hooch had instructed me to do.

"Now, you raise your right hand over the broom and say 'up'".

"Up?" I questioned, hearing the woosh of the broom and feeling it place itself in my hand that was flat against my side. I didn't even need to raise my hand.

"Wauw", I muttered as I looked down at the broom in my grasp, feeling extremely empowered by the twitching piece of wood in my hand. Just as I had felt the first time I had gotten my wand. Oh, I was really going to enjoy this then.

"Good, you're a natural", Madam Hooch pointed out, now telling me to mount the broom, kick myself off the ground and hover for a few seconds.

Cautiously getting on the broom, I kicked myself off of the ground and hovered a bit unsteadily.

"Whoooah", I breathed out, feeling the broom twitch beneath me, obviously ready to be taken out for a spin. The poor broom was surely locked away in a dusty cupboard most of the year. Poor, poor broom.

"Now, lean forward", Madam Hooch

And who was I to deny a poor imprisoned broom?

And as I leaned forward as Madam Hooch had instructed, I felt the broom react to my wishes.

With a great swoosh I shot right into the air, leaving behind a befuddled Madam Hooch on the ground far below me. Clutching the broom to my chest as I flew through the air, I relished in the adrenalin rush with wide eyes and a fluttering heart. Now I knew why James was so obsessed. This was pure magic.

Gathering up some courage, I sat up a bit straighter on the broom, slowing it down a bit for me to navigate better and take a look down towards the ground to see how high I had managed to get up. Looking down, I could see Madam Hooch in hysterics trying in vain to call me down, and a cheering James who had apparently gone up into the Gryffindor stands to be able to have a better look. Nearing the end of the pitch where James was standing I locked eyes with him. Smiling at him, I nodded at him in greeting, not feeling quite ready to let go of the broomstick yet, even if it would only be with one hand.

The short eye contact soon made James' vigorous cheering subside and a startled, slightly horrified look replaced the previous happiness. Confused, yet a bit annoyed, I shot him a skeptical look, to which he just started pointing ridiculously at the pitch in front of me.

'What?' I thought, turning around to spot what James had been so adamant on trying to show me.

The next quarter of an hour happened a bit in a blur. One minute I was colliding with the enormous cylinder that was one of the hoops in the end of the pitch, the next I was, while in a state of limbo between consciousness and unconsciousness, being carted off to the Hospital Wing. Not so much carted off as being floated off, as I was somehow hovering in the air. Funny how such a collision can make your brain go all wonky. Floating. Pfff... As if that sort of sorcery is even possible.

All the way from the Quidditch pitch to the Hospital Wing I had a mental argument with Me and Myself on how magic was a conspiracy theory made up to explain the Kennedy assassination.

I was just reaching a critical point in our discussion when I was unceremoniously and somewhat carelessly dropped on a semi-soft surface which brought us, or rather me, out of my wonky mental argument.

Opening my eyes and looking up at the people looking down at me, I smiled dreamily, and with half-closed eyes that could not seem to focus properly, I looked at the people present. One of the ladies was wearing a silly, pointy, green hat. How silly! Much sillier than regular hats! And much sillier than wearing no hat at all! Silly people.

A young woman in a red dress with a white apron rushed to my semi-soft bed and forcefully shoved the boy by the side of my bed away to reach me.

Looking up at the woman, I smiled that dreamy smile again and uttered a small 'hello' to her. Her eyes turned wide, and her whole face became tight as she looked sternly at the boy and a woman with greying hair. Taking a thin piece of wood out of her apron she swished it around doing lord knows what.

"This poor girl's head is a mess", she concluded as I looked up at her, smiling as my eyes rolled back into my head and everything went dark.

* * *

><p>As I opened my eyes I felt very confused. I was not in my dorm. And I was certainly not at home. Mint green curtains were drawn around me, and I was in an uncomfortable bed, fully dressed.<p>

Footsteps echoed through the room and I pushed myself up, feeling a slight ache in my shoulder as I did so.

The curtains were pulled away just as I managed to plant my feet on the ground, and matron Pomfrey strode over to me, quickly pushing me back onto the bed I had already grown to hate.

"Not so fast, Miss Denial", she said, pulling the sheets up around me, trapping me in a cocoon of cotton. "You suffered a nasty blow to the head and a broken shoulder blade, so you will remain here for the night", she continued, practically pouring some unrecognizable potion down my throat just as I was about to protest.

"Good night, Miss Denial", she said and vanished as quickly as she had appeared, leaving me confused and now extremely tired. Not a second later my head slumped backwards as I fell into a deep sleep.

Morning came fast, and before I knew it I was out of the Hospital Wing with strict instructions to take it easy the next couple of days. It was Saturday morning anyways, so relaxing was on the schedule of the day either way.

As I walked out of the Hospital Wing and finally got to properly absorb what had happened to me the previous day, I shook my head at my misfortune. I should really not have thought about what damage those hoops would do me before mounting a broom. I must have jinxed it, seeing as I did break a bone just as I had predicted. At least that bone was not in my neck, so I had been quite lucky. If not, I would have been a lifeless, bloody puddle of goo. That would not have pleased my parents. Killed during my first week at Hogwarts. Lovely.

I lazily made my way towards the Gryffindor common room, taking my time to appreciate the rare silence I was experiencing in these halls. It was probably around breakfast, but oddly enough, I didn't quite feel hungry yet. Good. I wouldn't have to face anyone about the incident yesterday, and I wouldn't have to indulge my thighs. Sometimes I feel as if my thighs are the ones that are controlling my stomach. They're the ones gaining all the extra weight anyways.

I got to the seventh floor faster than I had anticipated, apparently starting to get better with figuring out the moving staircases, and mumbled the password to a very high-spirited Fat Lady. I stepped inside the portrait hole, and just before the portrait closed behind me an owl flew in, hitting me in the back of my head before flying over to perch on one of the armchairs by the fire.

Groaning at the pain in the back of my head and frowning at the odd specimen, I made my way towards the obviously deranged bird that was patiently waiting for me.

"Blooming bird. How did you get in here?" I muttered to it, grumpily taking the envelope from the owl that in turn flew off to some secret owl exit, or wherever it might be able to get out of the Gryffindor tower. Turning around to go to my dormitory to read my letter, James Potter appeared out of thin air for the second time in two days.

"Blimey James, trying to finish me off?" I asked while looking at him, feigning hurt. If he kept doing that one out of two possible outcomes would occur: Either I'd die from a heart attack or the phrase 'what doesn't kill you only makes you stronger' would actually fit for once. Sadly, the first option seemed like the most likely one.

"Quite close to doing that yourself yesterday Evie. Had to have a look-see at the handsome Potter while flying, did you?" he asked teasingly, making me snort quite femininely. If a snort can ever be called feminine.

"Yeah, sorry, I couldn't resist a peak at the bloke who was obviously checking out how my arse looked on a broomstick", I teased back, shooting him an over-exaggerated wink.

"Well you put it out there. Oh, and by the way, if your delirious arse does not show up at tryouts, said bloke will be very disappointed", James countered, managing to sweep the grin completely off of my face.

"What? No! You saw how it went yesterday! You said it yourself! I broke my shoulder blade, I was delirious with pain! My head went all wonky", I sputtered. He couldn't be serious. He just couldn't. Perhaps I hadn't been the only person hitting my head on something, because if he was suggesting I show up at Quidditch tryouts then there was definitely something wrong with his head.

"Yeah, you were kind of delirious, weren't you? Kept muttering about some Kennedy bloke", he said, choosing to completely ignore my outburst. Noticing my distraught state, he quickly started trying to persuade me.

"Look, just give it a shot! I'll even train you to make you ready for it! You should have seen yourself on that broom Evans-", James said, stopping only because I interrupted him.

"Yeah, I was terrible! Did your eyes fail the moment I rammed into one of the hoops, or are you just bloody mental?"

"No! You were brilliant! An absolute natural! You just need to work on your focus..." he finished.

A small silence stretched between us, as we looked at each other, both too stubborn to give in. With a small sigh, James looked down, and slowly raised his eyes back to mine, looking quite defeated.

"Just... Promise me you'll think about it"

"I'll need a bloody sign from Merlin before that happens", I said, letting out a small laugh at the absurdity of the situation. My comment drew a small laugh from James, as he shook his head.

"Tell me when you get that sign, eh?" James said, sounding a bit defeated, lightly touching my shoulder with his fist in a mock punch before taking a seat in one of the armchairs, me not far behind him.

Sitting down, I pulled out my letter and opened it, finding that it was a letter from my parents. Well look at that. They had gotten themselves an owl. Unfolding the letter I took in my mother's neat writing.

'_Dear Evans_

_We heard you were in some sort of accident! Are you okay, honey? We asked Dumbledore if it was possible to come see you, but he told us that you were just fine. You should have seen your father! He was furious! How can you be fine when you were in an accident? Dumbledore was being terribly vague._

_But please write as soon as possible, your father and I are terribly worried! _

_On another note, did you enjoy your birthday present? I would rather have gotten you something else, but your father insisted. You know how stubborn he is. Well, best wishes from home, we hope you are settling in nicely._

_Love Mum'_

"Birthday present?" I mumbled, as I put down the letter, forgetting that James was just in the armchair beside me.

"What's that?" he asked as I put down my letter on the small table in front of me, remembering that I had indeed packed away my birthday present before I came to Hogwarts and that it was still in my the bottom of my trunk, forgotten.

Mumbling a quiet "be right back", I stood up and walked quickly to my dormitory, leaving my letter behind. A few minutes letter I emerged from my room with a small package to see James reading my letter.

"Snoop", I said to James, snatching my letter from his hands and plopping back into the armchair I had previously vacated.

"You're the one who left it down here", he pointed out.

I shrugged in response, now focusing on the present in my hands.

"Birthday present?" James asked, gaining only a short nod as I started opening the terribly wrapped present.

What was inside was the thing I had least expected.

A sign from Merlin.

"Are those Quidditch drills?"


	10. Bonding

**Author's Note**

Rather quick update if I must say so myself. Yet another un-beta'd one, but deal with it. I will re-upload later.

But this is my 10th chapter! Time for celebration! I shall try to hurry up with the next chapter as a congratulations to myself. I'm so needy.

I am preparing for a new character to join in soon, so watch out, 'cause you'll be in for a bumpy ride!

WARNING: a lot of technical handball terms in this chapter.

Oh, and I still need a beta.

Enjoy!

* * *

><p>The question came from a confused and slightly disbelieving James who was looking me over the shoulder to solve the mystery of the birthday present.<p>

But it was definitely not Quidditch drills, even though, to the untrained wizard eye, it might look like it. No, the papers I had in my hand were something entirely different, and entirely muggle. My dad's old handball drills. So basically, it could have been Quidditch drills, had you just added another dimension. And brooms. You would definitely need brooms.

For a minute I sat looking at the present, just shocked at what my parents had sent me, or rather shocked at what my father had sent me. He was exceptionally proud of his very detailed and complicated drills that he had spent most of his time during his adolescent years working on, and now they were mine.

But despite of the fact that I was entirely and utterly shocked, I was also pleasantly surprised and to be honest just a bit horrified. As James had so expertly proven, these could be confused with Quidditch drills, and handball drills could easily be translated to be used in Quidditch. And I am pretty sure that getting handball/almost Quidditch drills as a birthday present counts as a sign from Merlin, which would mean I would have to agree to be trained under James Potter, Chaser extraordinaire. And fanatic. We mustn't forget fanatic.

"No", I finally said, hesitating a bit to figure out how to explain to him just exactly what handball is.

"These are sports drills, but they are not from the kind of sport you are familiar with. These are handball drills", I elaborated, which changed the look on James' face from confused to excited.

"What is that then?" he asked, obviously excited about learning of a new sport.

"Well, I guess it is a bit like Quidditch, only, you don't play it on a broom", I explained, trying to find the easiest way to make James understand what handball is. Pure-blood wizards seem to have a hard time understanding anything muggles have invented, and this would probably not be an exception.

"Why not?" James asked, seeming fascinated, yet a bit baffled by the fact that a sport could be played without brooms. Typical pure-blood wizard.

"Well, this is a muggle sport, and since muggles do not have flying brooms, this is a sport played on the ground, and-" I said before being rudely interrupted.

"Wait, if they don't have flying brooms, how do they fly?"

"Big metal birds, okay?" I sneered, irritated with the interruptions James so graciously provided. Taking a deep breath, I opened my mouth to start explaining again, but stopped to glare at James as he was opening his mouth to question the use of 'big metal birds' as a way of traveling.

It was times like these when it was really obvious just whose daughter I am. My mother has got the same nasty temper that can flare up with nothing but a second's notice, but the big difference is that she has learned to control her anger, where I am still struggling. And it seems I am especially struggling when certain ignorant boys are around.

Stupid boys.

James shut his mouth and nodded as signaling for me to continue my story. I raised an eyebrow at him while sending a small glare as a warning of what would happen if he decided to interrupt me again, and continued talking.

"So... This is the muggle sport handball. You have just one ball, normally covered in some sort of wax or resin in order to make it easier to hold onto the ball. Then you have two teams, each with 7 players on the playing field at a time, plus some extras for when some of the players get too tired to play. So, these two teams have got one large goal each in their separate ends of the court. To win you have to score the most goals within a specific period of time. Grown ups normally play 2 times 30 minutes with a 10 minute break in between," I finished, having covered the basics. Well, the easy basics.

"Got it so far?" I asked James, only to have him nod enthusiastically.

"Ooookay", I muttered, now getting to the more complicated parts.

"Okay, so basically, the teams get turns on trying to score a goal, the defense go to their part of the court and defend their goal along with the goalkeeper. The offensive team try to score a goal by using different tactics and drills like these", I said and pointed down to the papers in my hand and quickly interrupting James before he could say anything by holding up a finger. "Which I will get to later. Now, as you know, there is a goal keeper, he has got a zone around the goal where no other players than him are allowed. That is called the D-zone. The defense defend this zone so the offensive team can't get close enough to score a goal. Then there are the different players. There are left and right wingmen who are out in the corners of the court, a left and right backcourt who are further in towards the center of the court, a center backcourt who control the play, also called a playmaker and a pivot who basically just try to confuse the defense by going right by the line of the D-zone and standing between the players of the defensive team."

A deep breath later, I looked up and saw James, looking at the papers in my hand, trying to visualize the court but apparently failing.

"Look, here", I said, and put the papers down on the table in front of me to show James where the different players would be standing on the court.

"So that's the.. What was it called, pivot, in there?" James asked, pointing at the line that separated the D-zone from the rest of the court.

"Exactly!" I said, smiling at the fact that James was really picking up on this much quicker than I had anticipated.

"I can see why he would wreck havoc in there", James said, looking over the papers, "I mean, with an active guy in the middle, what's he called?"

"The playmaker"

"Right, with an active playmaker the pivot would be able to move the defense enough to create rather big holes in the defense-wall", he pointed out, running his finger along the paper with where the pivot would run on the court.

Only just learning of the sport, and already thinking of tactics. James Potter was really something.

"Do the players have to stay in their assigned spot?" James asked the wheels turning in his head.

"Well, everyone play different roles, and you can easily move from your assigned spot as a part of a drill or some kind of tactics to confuse the defense, but you will have to move back to you spot in order to keep some semblance of order when you have to go into defense. In defense you have to keep track of the person opposite of you who is on the offensive team, so say you got it mixed up and didn't get back to your spot, the other team could very well score because there's a hole in the defense wall", I told him, he nodded to show he understood, while looking down at the papers.

Suddenly, James looked up, having just processed what I had told him.

"What does the pivot do then? He's supposed to be among the other team by the D-zone".

"Not while in defense. See?" I told him, and pointed at a paper that had basic line-ups written down.

"So he just tries to cover the pivot?" James asked, squinting his eyes at the line up that had several of the defensive players away from their places. I just replied with an agreeing 'mhmm'.

"What are _they_ doing?" James asked, not quite getting why the defense would move away from their assigned spots if it could create a hole in the wall.

"Now, that is what is called a 4-2 defense", I said and explained how players could stray from their place to cover a specifically dangerous player to avoid him coming close to the goal.

Time passed as we chatted on about handball and Quidditch, and right there in the Gryffindor common room, I felt like I really, and truly belonged. For the first time since I came to Hogwarts, I was the one who had the knowledge, I was the teacher, not the student. And it felt bloody incredible.

That was, until Sirius came barging into the common room with his signature grin on his face. I had not noticed that the common room had filled up since I James and I had sat down to discuss sports, and that Sirius had now gained the attention of the whole common room.

"Oi, there's a stumpy lil' Ravenclaw right outside yellin' all kinds of wonky stuff about responsibilities or somethin', anyone know her?" he yelled, looking pointedly at me. Oh he _so _knewwho said 'stumpy lil' Ravenclaw' was looking for.

"Ugh", I groaned as I realized Shannon was looking for me. Had she not heard that I had been knocked out the entire previous evening? Surely she must have known that I had not stood her up intentionally!

"What?" James asked, looking up from one of the papers, accidentally poking himself in the eye with the feather of the quill he was sitting with, trying to find the best way possible to convert a handball drill into a Quidditch one. "Bloody hell", he mumbled, and I snorted at his antics before standing up with a big sigh, not looking forward to this one bit.

"Sorry, I've got to go. Shannon is waiting for me it seems", I told him. "You'll pack this up when you're done right? This might take a while", I asked and was answered with an absentminded nod as James looked down at the papers again, only to look up again quickly with a grin on his face.

"If she kills you, can I have these?" he asked, pointing down at the drills.

"She's not that bad", I replied, a bit unsure. Perhaps she was. "But if I do die, you will have to share custody with my father. I'm not quite sure he was too happy about letting these babies go in the first place", I said, gesturing to the papers, and flashed James a playful grin before turning around to meet Shannon. And my doom.

I called a short "later James", over my shoulder as I walked out of the common room and left as he waved at the portrait hole without looking up. Obsessed sod.

Stepping out of the common room I was met with the angry glare of one particularly narked fourth year Ravenclaw student. Without a word she motioned for me to follow her, and without a word she left me standing outside the portrait hole confused and to be honest, a little bit too tired to deal with her antics.

Waking up from my daze as I noticed she was running off, I blinked a couple of times and jogged to catch up with her, slowing my pace as I reached her. She walked surprisingly quick with those short legs of hers.

"Look, why are we walking Shannon?" I asked her, trying, but failing to keep up with her pace. I received no answer. "Shannon? You did hear about my... accident yesterday, didn't you?" I asked again, trying to get her to stop bloody walking so I could figure out what this was all about. She couldn't really be angry about that could she? Yet again she ignored me, and even quickened her pace making me have to jog every 5 seconds to catch up to her.

I sighed mentally, (for we were walking too fast for me to waste my breath on such trivial actions) accepting the fact that I would not get an answer out of her before we had reached our destination. Perhaps I would get an answer out of her when she was no longer angry with me, for whatever reason that might be.

We reached the stairs and Shannon quickly bounded down the stairs not stopping until I was completely out of breath (and out of shape it seemed) on the third floor. First then she slowed down a bit heading for the library. Aha! The library! At least then I was sure she would not yell at me. No matter how much Irma Pince adored Shannon, no noise would be tolerated in the library, even if said noise came from Shannon Moore.

We headed into the library and immediately Shannon pulled me by my sleeve to the Herbology section, and before I knew it books were stacked into my arms and I was pushed to a cozy study table right by the Herbology section overlooking the wonderful grounds of Hogwarts. Dropping the books on the table I winced as my shoulder ached, not too happy about me lifting around heavy books around just as I had been ordered to relax.

I sat down by the table and looked up at Shannon expectantly, waiting for her to sit down and instruct me. She had not even asked me to bring a quill or parchment, so I assumed she must have brought some.

Sitting down beside me, she pulled out a small bag from her robes and stretched her entire arm down the bag, rummaging around in the search for something. It was times like these that magic really hit me in the face. Things that I had previously thought of as magic tricks performed by magicians were now reality and could easily be achieved with a simple Undetectable Extension Charm. Amazing, really.

As I marveled at Shannon's entire arm being able to fit into the small bag, she pulled out a quill, ink and a lot of parchment which she put in front of me. She quietly looked over the books and pushed the worn copy of One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi over to me putting a hand on the cover and promptly saying: "Abyssinian shrivelfig, handling in Herbology and a mention of how it is used in Potions. Hint: Shrinking Solution, now, get started or we will end up sitting here all weekend". Even though her tone was hushed out of respect for Madam Pince (and probably also a bit out of fear of the old bat), her voice was strict and still managed to be more authoritative than my own mother's voice.

I did nothing but nod a bit fearfully and opened the first page of the book in front of me to scan the contents of the book to get to the part I needed, as I was afraid what would happen if I didn't.

A couple of minutes passed by with her staring intently at me as I wrote down notes for what I wanted in the paper, until I could not take her staring anymore. Normally she was not this barmy.

"Look, are you angry with me for yesterday? Because I am really sorry about that, but I couldn't really warn you as I was unconscious in the Hospital Wing for the entire afternoon and night", I asked her, pushing my book away and leaning over the table for her to be able to hear my hushed voice.

She narrowed her eyes at me and leaned over the table to be able to whisper back to me without the danger of being overheard by Madam Pince.

"You said you weren't completely devoid of ambition. Then what do you call this Evans? Here I am trying to help you and you're just out gallivanting with James Potter, getting Quidditch injuries instead of worrying about your education!" she whispered harshly, "you're just like my bloody brother", she mumbled as an afterthought, most likely one I was not supposed to hear.

"I was not gallivanting with James Potter, I had a flying lesson. A lesson scheduled by the school. And why, pray tell, am I like your brother?" I whispered back fiercely. I had just gotten out from the Hospital Wing and she dare throw that in my face as soon as she sees me. Oh no, I would **not** let her step all over me like that.

"You're both the same, completely indifferent when it comes to your education and absolutely obsessed with brooms", she spat, learning back in her seat and forgetting everything about being quiet.

"Obsessed with brooms?" I shrieked, completely taken aback. I had only been on a broom once. How could she say something as preposterous as that? I had not been at Hogwarts for more than a week and she was already accusing me of neglecting my studies and having a closet obsession with brooms. Merlin's pants, what is wrong with that girl?

"What else would you call it?" she asked in a vicious tone, now standing up from her seat and looking down at me. Pushing my chair away from the table I stood up, shot one last heated glare at Shannon and walked away from the table Madam Pince on my tail for being too loud in the library. I ignored her as I was afraid that if I talked to her I might tell her to shove her silence back down her throat so that maybe the library would actually be a pleasant and quiet place to be, which would surely give me a detention or two which I was very much avoiding. My schedule was tough enough as it was.

Fuming I walked out of the library and up the stairs to the 7th floor to get back to my dormitory so I could either rant about Shannon to Alice or throw some things at walls to relieve me of at least some of my anger. Amazing how yesterday had been such a nice day. I had probably been too happy and now Karma decided to put the universe back into status quo by depriving me of my happiness. Or however Karma worked. I have no idea and neither do I care to be honest. I just wanted to break something.

As I got to the Gryffindor tower I hissed "Flibbertigibbet" at the Fat Lady, who mumbled something along the lines of "well someone's in a Slytherin mood", before entering the common room and storming up the stairs to the girls' dormitory.

As I got to the dormitory, which was not empty I observed, I threw myself on my bed taking a pillow and pulling it over my head as to create a shield between me and the entire world. Letting out a rather loud frustrated yell from underneath my pillow, I closed my eyes, trying to calm down. Taking deep breaths I found myself breathing uncomfortably under the pillow and shoved it off of my head and onto the floor. Still laying on my stomach on my bed, I started to calm down, until a voice spoke to me from the end of my bed.

"I couldn't help but notice you were upset", a clear voice stated a bit cautiously. Well, I would have been cautious too if I were to talk to me when I was in this mood, and especially if my name was Lily Evans.

"Yes, Karma got me", I stated dully "what do you want Lily?" I asked turning over to lay on my back instead so I could face her.

She looked at me, then as she noticed that she had my full attention looked down, taking great interest in the pattern in the stone floor.

"I just... Wanted to apologize. I haven't a clue what made me act the way I have done towards you, as you have essentially done nothing wrong other than gallivanting with those infuriating boys", she said, deeply shocking me. Lily Evans had nothing against me, Evans Denial. I had no idea what to do in the situation as I was deeply stunned by the apology, but since not everything had gone completely wrong today, I figured I might as well go with the flow. Give her a chance. I mean, what's there to lose really? I didn't exactly have a big group of friends.

Managing to gather up a small smile despite of my anger and frustration I sat up and patted my bed for her to sit down. Softly returning my smile, she complied and sat cross-legged at my bed and looked at me, a small silence growing between us.

"So...", Lily said, looking up from her nails that had seemed very interesting to her the previous 20 seconds. "Is there a specific reason you are upset?" she asked and pushed some loose hair behind her ears.

Sighing at the question I looked down and realized that what I was about to tell Lily would surely cause her to side with Shannon as Lily was too very focused on her studies. Plus, she was not exactly James Potter's biggest fan.

"Well", I started, clearing my throat and preparing myself for the short truce between Lily and I to crumble as I had told my story.

"You know Shannon from Ravenclaw? Tiny fourth year?" I asked Lily. She nodded and motioned for me to go in.

"She's my tutor and we had a slight... disagreement", I started, still not quite believing that I was having girl talk with Lily Evans. It just seemed too unlikely to be happening.

"About what?" she asked again, trying to get to the bottom of the problem as quickly as possible.

"She told me I wasn't taking my studies seriously as I had planned to meet with her after dinner yesterday, but ended up in the Hospital Wing because of a flying lesson gone wrong. And now she thinks I'm constantly deliberately ignoring my studies in order to have fun with James", I told her, feeling a slight speck of both anger and sadness. I _did_ care for my studies. If not I would already have gone mental with stress and gone home as the work they made me do was extreme compared to other students. But I had to catch up and this was the only way to do it.

"What?" Lily asked, shocked. Probably at the fact that I was fraternizing with James.

"Yeah, she was pretty rough about it", I replied, scrunching up my nose as I recalled some of the things she had said to me. It wasn't exactly polite chit-chat that had come out of her mouth.

"How could she possibly blame you for something that wasn't even your fault? It was your first time flying a broom! And from what I heard you did much better than most do on their first flight, of course if you count out the part where you flew into the stands", Lily said, muttering the last part.

I shrugged awkwardly.

"The hoops", I corrected her quietly, biting the edge of my lip.

"Ouch", she replied pulling a face that suggested she figured how bad it must have hurt.

"Yeah", I replied smiling awkwardly and nodding slightly.

Looking down at the floor I noticed my pillow on the floor and for some reason suddenly remembered the reason I was up here. And that I now had a Herbology essay to finish. As I lifted myself off the bed and stood on the floor to find my things for my essay I turned to Lily and smiled at her. She had really managed to get me to calm down. It was nice having someone to talk to, and since Alice had been wandering around the castle with some guy the last couple of days Lily had been an excellent substitute.

"Thanks Lily, I really appreciate this", I told her earnestly as I reached down my trunk to dig out my copy of One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi.

"Any time", Lily replied and stood on the floor on the other side of the bed, flashing me a smile before she went back to her bed and pulled out a book from her trunk to read.

Well, what do you know? Lily Evans and Evans Denial, acquaintances. Perhaps one day even friends.

Picking up a quill, a bottle of ink and my book I made my way down the stairs to the common room where I would hopefully be able to write my essay in relative peace. In the common room there is no such thing as actual peace because of the amount of people that always occupied the place, but it was better than risking meeting Shannon in the library. Knowing her, she had probably not left the library and was studying something overly boring and geeky. Or she was playing Wizard's Chess. What do I know, really?

* * *

><p>"Look, Sirius, James and I are friends with her. Is it not possible for you to just give her a chance? Even I have been wanting to sock you in the eye. Actually I've tried and you can't really blame her for not missing like I did", Remus reasoned sitting back in his armchair, starting to look rather tired and ragged as the full moon was coming up in a few days time.<p>

"Look, would you guys lay off? I'm sick and tired of hearing about it", I replied feeling quite aggravated that they constantly brought it up.

"You know what I am sick and tired of Sirius? You avoiding and pussyfooting around Evans for the past week, just ask the bloody girl out and be over with it", Remus said, sighed, rolled his eyes and leaned his head back as he could see I was about to argue with him.

"Don't bother Sirius", Peter said looking at Remus' annoyed and tired look. "Can't you just, try tolerating her?" Peter asked, as Remus had obviously withdrawn from the conversation.

I shot Remus an angry look for even suggesting I was attracted to Evans Denial and with a roll of my eyes, I agreed to stop avoiding Evans and try out a nicer attitude towards her.

"If she jinxes me, I'm blaming you guys", I told them and turned around as Evans sat down next to James and uttered the ridiculous word "wotcher".

* * *

><p>As I got to the common room it was slightly crowded as it was that time between breakfast and lunch where people were restlessly walking around without anything to do.<p>

I sat down beside James who has still not left his place but had been joined by Peter, Remus and Sirius. The three were talking amongst themselves seeing as James was still preoccupied with my birthday present.

"Wotcher", I said, grinning as both James looked up and the boys looked over at me with a confused look on their faces.

"What?" James questioned confused with my choice of greeting, with his quill raised in the air above one of the pieces of paper.

"Now, who gave you the permission to write in those papers when I was gone, Potter?" I asked jokingly, raising an eyebrow at him looking pointedly between him and the quill.

As if he was afraid I would take the papers away from him, he slowly put down the quill and leaned back in his chair greeting me back properly, yet a bit mockingly with a short "Wotcher Evans".

The other guys quickly became disinterested except for Sirius who turned around to join in on whatever conversation we would be starting, having apparently completely forgotten about our... Disagreement.

"What's all this then?" Sirius asked at our greeting, apparently feeling as if he was left out of some sort of joke between James and I, when I was really just being silly.

"Nothing, nothing", I laughed, picking up One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi to place it on the table, wincing as lifting the heavy book made my shoulder throb painfully.

"That still hurts?" James asked and stood up from his beloved armchair to poke and prod at my shoulder.

"Hey! What are you doing?" I asked, appalled that he was touching my very much hurting shoulder.

"Relax, James breaks bones all the time. I'd bet he is even more qualified to look at your shoulder than Nanny Pomfrey down in the Hospital Wing is", Sirius said standing up from his own chair to see what James was doing to me.

"Actually, I think you should go see Pomfrey, it shouldn't hurt like this", he said as I winced and bit my lip in pain when he poked the place my fracture had been.

"Ughh, bloody hell", I mumbled silently agreeing by shoving myself lazily out of my armchair and putting down my things at the table for James to look after as I went to the Hospital Wing.

"Here I come Madam Pomfrey".


End file.
